Background: The study explores the impact of sexual violence and trauma on women living in a refugee camp in Democratic Republic of Congo. The influence of multiple adversities that Congolese women experience long-life (mainly extreme poverty, war, forced migration) and cultural factors (gender disparity, forced marriages, normalized intimate violence, etc.) which link to sexual violence in those territories are illustrated. Methods: The study adopts a narrative research method, through interviews conducted with four raped women who screened positive at the Refugee Health Screener-15 for poor mental health (anxiety, depression, and PTSD). Results: The devasting manifestations of sexual trauma on women’s health emerge, particularly the core symptoms of the Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (CPTSD) and Disturbances in Self-Organization (affect dysregulation, damaged self-image, interiorized rape stigma, disturbed social relationships, loss of meaning in life, hopelessness). Conclusions: The need to assume a culturally sensitive approach to understand both the hidden suffering of women, and the barriers limiting access to health services in low resource/adverse settings are discussed.
Benedetto et al. (Tue,) studied this question.