A experiência de ser mãe de crianças vítimas de abuso sexual: uma compreensão fenomenológica

Abstract

Sexual violence against children and adolescents is considered a public health issue not only because of its occurrence, but also because of the serious repercussions that abusive experience brings to the victim and his family. Often, the mother is the primary caregiver of the children in the family and it is eventually expected to be the person to perceive possible signs of sexual abuse. Considering the complexity and gravity of this phenomenon, it is necessary that its analysis be careful in considering the participation of family members in the abusive dynamics, especially the mother, who is commonly seen as an accomplice and not as someone who is part of the phenomenon, therefore, which also needs attention. Thus, this study aimed to understand the experience of being mothers of children victims of sexual abuse, adopting for this the phenomenological method, supported in Heideggerian hermeneutics. This perspective has as a proposal to highlight the existential dimension of the daily suffering experience, assuming that the narratives are the way of access to lived experience. Narrative interviews were conducted with three mothers of child victims of sexual abuse. These narratives pointed to the impact of the discovery of sexual abuse for the family, with the mother having the main task of accompanying the child victimized by the professionals and the need to reinvent her role as a mother from the demands that arose after the abuse was revealed. In addition, the mothers reported that this revelation was marked by the loss of security with the world, a break of trust with the abuser, a strong sense of helplessness. Although it is important to consider the particularities related to the role of the mother in a context of sexual abuse, it is also necessary to propose interventions at the family level, in addition to the focus on the victim, considering that sexual abuse affects the whole family.