Critical incidents in the recovery from intimate abuse with a gay male partner

• Main Author: Gnauck, Craig Richard
• Language: English
• Published: 2009
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/11273

As an exploratory research project, using Flanagan's (1954) Critical Incident methodology, seven gay male survivors of intimate abuse were interviewed in order to identify factors that facilitated and/or hindered recovery. Critical incidents were collected on a timeline in order to examine inter-incident relationships, which provided the basis for a proposed theory of recovery characteristic of a non-clinical population. Seventy facilitating incidents were subsequently sorted into 13 categories. Sixtyone hindering events were similarly sorted into 12 categories. Procedures to establish category soundness and comprehensiveness suggest that the current category system can be reliably used, and the categories congruently reflect survivor recovery experiences. Facilitating categories are primarily organized around the following themes: Personal resiliency, boundary management, and determination to break negative relationship patterns. Traumatic re-enactment, perpetrator intrusiveness, and social stigma are central themes identified in the hindering categories. Implications for theory, research, and professional practice are also addressed.