Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2020, Social Work
Older adults have been largely excluded from practice, research, policies and education on sexual violence (SV) prevention. Thus, guided by a Critical Feminist Gerontological Framework, integrated within the Social Ecological Model, the central aim of this dissertation is to offer an in-depth understanding of perceptions of SV, chiefly in later life, and how age, gender, SV experience, or work with elders or SV victims may impact perceptions, barriers and solutions to prevention. This three-manuscript dissertation begins with an introductory chapter on SV in later life, followed by a systematic scoping review and thematic analysis, or thematic synthesis, of research on perceptions SV in later life, barriers to prevention and how they can be addressed. Results from the scoping review informed the second phase of this mixed methods dissertation study on perceptions of SV in later life, comprised of a factorial vignette survey gathered through Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTURK), where participants were randomized to one of five vignettes, involving the five kinds of SV identified in later life research, where the age of the victim was randomized to 21, 51 or 81 years. After reading the vignettes, participants were asked 20 Likert-scale and categorical questions, on perceived seriousness, culpability, reportability and knowledge of SV, examined in a regression analysis, and 27 open text questions, on knowledge and perceptions of SV, including in later life, explored using a qualitative thematic analysis.
Seven overarching themes were identified in the thematic synthesis, of 18 scholarly articles, regarding (a) needs for knowledge and awareness, (b) research, (c) policy development, (d) influences of agism and sexism, (e) SV being a taboo involving limited support, (f) sociocultural differences, and (g) confusion about the nature of SV as well as how it is defined.
Further, 567 survey responses were analyzed to assess how age, gender, work industry and victimiz (open full item for complete abstract)
Committee: Mo Yee Lee PhD (Advisor); Holly Dabelko-Schoeny PhD (Committee Member); Cecilia Mengo PhD (Committee Member); Michelle Kaiser PhD (Committee Member)
Subjects: Social Work