Student Stories of Resilience After Campus Sexual Assault

Abstract

Undergraduate students who experience campus sexual assault (CSA) are faced with a wide array of potentially detrimental mental health and educational outcomes that may significantly impact their sense of well-being. Many researchers have focused on documenting these consequences of CSA, but there is a dearth of research on students’ post-assault experiences. Specifically, there is a lack of scholarship exploring the lived experiences of resilience as students navigate post-assault life on campus. The purpose of this dissertation study was to explore the phenomenon of resilience among undergraduate students who have experienced CSA, through a qualitative inquiry that used post-intentional phenomenological (PIP) methods and was informed by socio-ecological and intersectional feminist based theoretical perspectives.This study was conducted at a large, urban, public land grant University with a sample of undergraduate students who had experienced CSA while being an undergraduate student at the University, were currently enrolled as an undergraduate student at the University, and were between the ages of 18 and 24. Semi-structured, one-to-one interviews were conducted with six eligible participants, in order to explore, in-depth, the phenomenon of resilience among undergraduate students as they navigate their post-assault life on campus. In using PIP methods of analysis, four tentative manifestations of the phenomenon were found to include resilience within the context of agency, coping, connection, and hope. These productions and provocations of resilience are further discussed and analyzed in relation to post-reflexions and, broadly, the CSA and resilience scholarship. Recommendations and implications across research, policy, and practice are presented, specifically those identified by the participants as recommendations for change in addressing CSA and supporting student experiences of resilience.