Measuring Healing and Recovery After Gender-Based Violence: A Scoping Review

Healing after gender-based violence (GBV) is multidimensional, with varying instruments used in the scientific literature to capture this phenomenon quantitively in survivor populations. The purpose of this scoping review was to (a) describe quantitative measures used to evaluate recovery after GBV, (b) compare these findings with domains uncovered in a qualitative metasynthesis about survivors' perspectives about healing after GBV, and (c) summarize recovery relationships found. We searched Pubmed, PsycInfo, and Violence/Criminology/Family Studies Abstracts. Studies were included for review if they (a) used quantitative methods, (b) evaluated healing or recovery in survivors of GBV, (c) were available in English, and (d) were empirical articles in peer-reviewed journals. Two thousand nine hundred thirty-five articles were reviewed by title and abstract, and 92 articles were reviewed by full text. Twenty-six articles were included in this review. Eight studies used an alleviation of adverse symptomology as a proxy for recovery, eight used growth-related outcomes, and ten used a combination of both types of measures. While the quantitative instruments synthesized in this review seemed to map onto some of the recovery domains identified through qualitative metasynthesis, no study synthesized measured all domains simultaneously. Studies synthesized identified that recovery-related outcomes may be influenced by social support, symptom burden, disclosure, and various therapeutic intervention programs tested in the literature to date. Synthesizing research on recovery after GBV is an essential step to understand gaps in measurement and understanding. Streamlining and using holistic recovery outcome measurement can aid in the development of evidence-based interventions to promote healing in survivor populations.