Community services for rape survivors: Enhancing psychological well-being or increasing trauma?

This research examined how contact with the legal, medical, and mental heal th systems affects rape survivors' psychological well-being. Although commu nity services may be beneficial for some victims, there is increasing evide nce that they can add trauma, rather than alleviate distress (termed second ary victimization). This study examined how secondary victimization affects rape survivors' posttraumatic stress (PTS) symptoms. Adaptive and snowball sampling were used to recruit a sample of 102 rape survivors. Victims df n onstranger rape who received minimal assistance from either the legal or me dical system, and encountered victim-blaming behaviors from system personne l, had significantly elevated levels of PTS. This high-risk group of rape s urvivors had PTS levels significantly higher than all other victims in this study, including those who did not seek community assistance postrape. How ever, for these high-risk rape survivors, receiving sustained mental health services after these negative experiences was associated with a significan t decrease in PTS.