Date

4-7-2026

Department

School of Behavioral Sciences

Degree

Doctor of Education in Community Care and Counseling (EdD)

Chair

William Carroll Townsend

Keywords

Military, military sexual assault (MSA), sexual assault, assault, barriers, unrestricted reporting, trauma, mental health, stigma, institutional blindness, institutional betrayal, servicewomen, military culture, organizational climate, perception, support, military criminal investigation office (MCIO), investigations, military judicial process, judicial, justice, victim blaming, fear of retaliation, retaliation, lack of trust, trust, need for support, negative perception, sexual assault prevention and response (SAPR), sexual harassment and assault response and prevention (SHARP), help seeking, area defense counsel (ADC), case management group (CMG), chain of command (COC), defense organizational climate survey (DEOCS), defense sexual assault incident database (DSAID), Department of Defense (DOD), Department of Justice (DOJ), Department of War (DOW), Equal employment opportunities (EEO), independent review committee (IRC), integrated primary prevention workforce (IPPW), judge advocate general (JAG), judicial affairs (JA), military rule of evidence (MRE), military sexual trauma (MST), National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), Office of Special Investigation (OSI), Office of Special Trial Counsel (OSTC), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), rape myth acceptance (RMA), Secretary of Defense (SecDef), service member, sexual assault forensic exam (SAFE), sexual assault response coordinator (SARC), sexual assault prevention and response office (SAPRO), special victims counsel (SVC), social ecological model (SEM) theory, uniform code of military justice (UCMJ), veteran's affairs (VA)

Disciplines

Social and Behavioral Sciences

Abstract

The purpose of this phenomenological study is to understand the current barriers experienced by women MSA victims throughout their help-seeking process of unrestricted reports through the institutional blindness and social-ecological model theories. Furthermore, the victims’ perception of the organizational climate’s influence on the help-seeking process, including command support and the judicial component of unrestricted reports, and the victim’s desire to seek additional military-setting services are also examined. Inductive coding and thematic analysis will be used to identify any reoccurring patterns experienced amongst the participants. The theories guiding this study are Meyer, Rowan, and Freyd’s institutional blindness and Bronfenbrenner’s social-ecological model (SEM). The social ecological component of the military’s organizational climate can hinder the post-sexual assault help-seeking experience among women MSA victims. This study explores the victim’s perceived challenges during their help-seeking process through the use of semi-structured interviews and prompted journal entries and drawings. This study will provide a framework to understand how recent policy reforms from the Department of Defense’s (DoD), now known as Department of War’s (DOW) sexual assault prevention and response office (SAPRO) have impacted the help-seeking process of women MSA victims within the military. This qualitative study will aim to incorporate the experience of 12 to 15 women sexual assault victims who filed an unrestricted report with SAPRO within the last five years.

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