Barriers to Receiving Support among Young Arab Women in Israel Who Have Been Abused in Childhood

Abstract

Young Arab women (YAW) in Israel who have been abused in childhood may experience barriers to both formal and informal support as an ethnic minority and a gender exposed to exclusion, discrimination and oppression. However, only scant reference has been made to this problem in the literature. Here, in a qualitative study of twenty YAW in Israel who had experienced abuse in childhood, we explored their perception of barriers to support following the abuse. Theoretical understandings were developed using a grounded theory approach. The ecological theory and the intersection of the marginal positions theory further developed emergent theoretical understandings during analysis. The main findings of the study are based on three major meta-categories: sociopolitical barriers, sociocultural barriers and intra-interpersonal barriers. These meta-categories, which create a mechanism of silencing the abuse, reflect a cumulative effect of the barriers ranging from macro-levels to micro-levels. The article discusses the implications of the findings on social policy and social work training in order to enhance culturally-and gender-adapted treatment programmes.