Lived experiences and barriers to disclosure and support service utilization among gender-based violence survivors in Calabar, Nigeria: A phenomenological study

Nja GME; Ibor GO; Anugha EP; Maja TM

doi:10.61386/imj.v19i3.1208

Authors

Nja GME Health Services Management and Health Policy Unit, Department of Public Health, Faculty of Allied Medical Sciences, University of Calabar, Nigeria https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3103-4663
Ibor GO Health Services Management and Health Policy Unit, Department of Public Health, Faculty of Allied Medical Sciences, University of Calabar, Nigeria https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4478-6944
Anugha EP Health Services Management and Health Policy Unit, Department of Public Health, Faculty of Allied Medical Sciences, University of Calabar, Nigeria https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9605-6313
Maja TM Nursing Sciences, Tshwane University of Technology, Faculty of Science, Adelaide Tambo School of Nursing, South Africa https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6654-9114

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.61386/imj.v19i3.1208

Keywords:

Gender-based violence, adolescent girls, young women, disclosure, qualitative study, Nigeria

Abstract

Context: Gender-based violence (GBV) remains a major threat to the health, dignity, and bodily integrity of women and girls. Although its prevalence is widely documented, less is known about how survivors experience violence and how these experiences shape disclosure and support-seeking.

Materials and Methods: A qualitative descriptive phenomenological study was conducted among 26 purposively selected GBV survivors aged 15-35 years in Calabar, Nigeria. Three focus group discussions, stratified by age and marital status, were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed inductively using Braun's thematic analysis, guided by Giorgi's phenomenological approach.

Results: Four themes emerged: making meanings of GBV; living with violence as disruption to everyday life; multi-level barriers to disclosure; and systemic barriers to support service utilization. Participants described GBV as a continuum of physical, sexual, psychological, and economic harm occurring across childhood, adolescence, intimate relationships, family structures, and community spaces. Disclosure and help-seeking were constrained by fear, shame, victim-blaming, family reputation, weak institutional responses, bureaucratic barriers, distrust of formal systems, and corruption.

Conclusion: GBV in this setting is sustained by intersecting systems of violence, silence, and institutional failure. Coordinated, survivor-centered, trauma-informed, and multisectoral responses are needed to improve disclosure, protection, referral, and support in low-resource settings.