Exploring the meanings of posttraumatic growth in Spanish survivors of clergy-perpetrated child sexual abuse: A phenomenological approach

Abstract

A healing and recovery perspective related to child sexual abuse (CSA) has gained attention in the past two decades, a concept that accurately refers to the process is posttraumatic growth (PTG). Scarce empirical research on PTG in clergy-perpetrated CSA survivors shows evidence of the presence of growth after the abusive experience and a tendency to create accounts of trauma as a way to heal. The general aim of the study is to explore the experiences and meanings of PTG as lived by survivors of clergy-perpetrated CSA. Seven clergy-perpetrated CSA survivors were interviewed with semi-structured in-depth interviews conducted in person. Using reflexive thematic analysis, we identified three dominant themes in the participants’ stories: (a) the hindering of PTG; (b) the meanings of PTG, and (c) the internal and contextual and facilitators of PTG. The present study brings new insights into the meanings of PTG, the close relationship between damage and growth, and the mechanisms (both internal and contextual) that are involved in healing from clergy-perpetrated CSA in Spanish culture.