23-3 Coping Strategies of Taiwanese Women with a History of Childhood Sexual Abuse
Previous studies indicated that women with a history of childhood sexual abuse (CSA) often adopt avoidance strategies to deal with the impact of CSA. However, little is known about how their coping strategies change over time. The purpose of this qualitative study is to examine the coping strategies used by CSA survivors to deal with the long-term sequelae of CSA and to determine the factors that contribute to changes in coping strategies. A life-history design was used, and in-depth interviews were conducted to collect data from five Taiwanese participants, recruited by purposive sampling. All interviews were audio-taped and transcribed. A line-by-line approach has used to develop themes from the transcripts. The results indicate that strategies adopted to cope with the long-term effects of CSA include a variety of factors as optimism, bibliotherapy, avoidance of interpersonal intimacy, dissociation, and avoidance of flashbacks. During young adulthood, participants tended to change coping strategies as a result of facing the CSA trauma, changing careers, reframing the CSA experience, and developing a sense of empowerment from counseling experiences. Limitations of the present study, implications of the current findings, and recommendations for future research are also discussed.
Keywords
childhood sexual abuse, coping strategies, Taiwanese women.
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