Trauma Recovery in Women Worldwide

Special Issue Introduction:

This Special Issue will focus on trauma recovery experiences for women who have experienced gender-based violence (GBV). GBV is defined in the UN Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women as any act of violence that results in physical, sexual, or psychological harm or suffering to women and girls (United Nations, 1993). We will include papers that examine trauma recovery experiences, patterns, predictors, and cultural diversity in trauma and trauma recovery.

Letter to prospective authors:

Dear Colleagues,

The science of trauma has largely focused on escape from violence, and mental health outcomes for trauma survivors. However, since 1 in 3 women and girls worldwide experience some form of GBV in their lifetime, we need much more data on cultural variations in recovery to create interventions to support survivor recovery. Moreover, we know that recovery is a multifaceted experience including selfhood, social engagement, and spirituality, and we must expand our science to understand recovery both holistically and contextually. We want to clarify and amplify the definitions of trauma recovery, seeking to expand our understanding of recovery beyond mental health challenges.

This Special Issue seeks articles that advance the science of GBV trauma recovery experiences, patterns, and predictors. We are especially interested in how culture and context shape the recovery experiences. We want to examine those factors that enhance the elements of recovery, which include (but are not limited to) recovery engagement, experiences of healing, trauma integration, thriving and wellbeing, as well as internal and contextual factors that inhibit recovery efforts or successful recovery.

Prof. Dr. Denise Saint Arnault
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sexes is an international peer-reviewed open access quarterly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1000 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• trauma recovery
• recovery engagement
• facilitators and barriers to help seeking
• healing
• thriving
• recovery journeys
• trauma integration