Introduction

With respect to this expansive vision of what is achievable in PR with vulnerable or marginalised groups, and especially those who may be defined as multiply vulnerable, this chapter focuses on participatory approaches with victims of abuse and trauma with a particular focus on women victims-survivors of domestic violence. This chapter also considers some of the important reasons why participants such as these require research methods that emphasise personal autonomy and agency, drawing in particular on narrative methods and intensive participatory narrative techniques. Using the example of an ongoing participatory narrative writing project with unsupported women victims-survivors of domestic violence, the chapter shows what is achievable in PR methods terms among participant groups who are largely isolated or hidden.

Narrative research is relevant to the focus of the discussion in this chapter (and, indeed, to the book as a whole; see the Introduction and Chapter One), and to participatory methods and approaches, not simply because of its long history in the social sciences, but because of its emphasis on individual, ‘insider’ perspectives (see Gilbert, 2004, p 301). As Gilbert states,

The participatory elements of the narrative research discussed in this chapter with respect to the participatory narrative research (PNR) study with unsupported women victims-survivors of domestic violence are important and necessary additions to the narrative approach. This is because they help to reinforce the idea – illustrated through the PNR study and the specific narrative example included in the second half of this chapter – that it is not just the telling of the story or narrative that is important, but also the degree of ownership and control among participants themselves over the narrative method and its construction, and the way in which this is presented (as opposed to re-presented) through authorial ‘voice’.

Victims of violence, abuse and trauma

In the late 1980s, Gondolf (1988) identified a range of psychological consequences of domestic violence for women, such as, for example, low self-esteem, depression, self-blame, lack of autonomy and fear of separation from their abusers, as critical factors that underscore their vulnerability.