📄 social_science

Analysis of GBV’s impact on Stigma and Internalized Shame among Women and Girls in IDP Camps across Somalia

This study demonstrates that gender-based violence significantly drives high levels of public stigma and internalized shame among women and girls in Somalia's IDP camps, highlighting an urgent need for integrated interventions combining survivor-centered psychosocial care, community stigma reduction, and strengthened protection and livelihood support.

Original authors: Abdifatah Nour Rage, Abdullahi Ilyas Osman

Published 2026-07-07

📖 5 min read🧠 Deep dive

CC BY 4.0

Original authors: Abdifatah Nour Rage, Abdullahi Ilyas Osman

Original paper licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). ✨ This is an AI-generated explanation of the paper below. It is not written or endorsed by the authors. For technical accuracy, refer to the original paper. Read full disclaimer

The Big Picture: A Broken Shield and a Heavy Backpack

Imagine a group of women living in temporary camps in Somalia. These are IDP (Internally Displaced Persons) camps, places where people have been forced to leave their homes because of war or disaster.

In these camps, the women face a "double trouble" problem:

The Violence: Many have experienced Gender-Based Violence (GBV). Think of this as a physical blow or a deep cut.
The Aftermath: After the violence, they face two invisible but heavy burdens: Stigma (how the community treats them) and Internalized Shame (how they feel about themselves).

This study is like a detective investigation. The researchers wanted to know: Does the violence cause the community to treat women badly (Stigma)? Does it also make the women feel terrible about themselves (Shame)? And which one hurts more?

The Investigation: Counting the Scars

The researchers went into these camps and asked 340 women to fill out a survey. They didn't just ask "Did this happen?" They used a special scale (like a thermometer for feelings) to measure three things:

GBV: How much violence they faced.
Stigma: How much the community gossiped, blamed, or rejected them.
Shame: How much they felt dirty, worthless, or blamed themselves.

The Results were loud and clear:

Violence is everywhere: The average score for violence was very high.
Stigma is high: The community is very quick to judge and reject survivors.
Shame is the highest: The women felt the most pain from internalized shame. They blamed themselves more than they feared the community's judgment.

The Connection: The Domino Effect

The study used math to see how these three things connect. Imagine a set of dominoes:

The First Domino (GBV): When a woman experiences violence, it knocks over the next domino.
The Second Domino (Stigma): The violence causes the community to label her as "damaged" or "at fault."
The Third Domino (Shame): The community's judgment makes the woman believe she is at fault.

The Key Finding: The study found that violence pushes the "Shame" domino harder than the "Stigma" domino.

The Analogy: Imagine a woman is hit by a car (Violence). The bystanders (Community) start yelling at her for being in the road (Stigma). But the worst part is that she starts believing she deserved to be hit and that she is a bad person for being there (Shame). The study found that the feeling of "I am bad" (Shame) is actually a stronger result of the accident than the yelling from the crowd.

The Vicious Cycle: The Feedback Loop

The study discovered a scary cycle, like a hamster wheel that won't stop:

Because the community judges her (Stigma), she feels terrible about herself (Shame).
Because she feels terrible, she hides and doesn't tell anyone what happened.
Because she hides, the community doesn't learn the truth, so they keep judging her.
This keeps the wheel spinning, trapping the woman in isolation.

The "Why" Behind the Pain

The researchers explained why this is happening using a few big ideas:

The Broken Net: In Somalia, families and clans usually act as a safety net. But in these camps, that net is torn. 70% of the women said they had no clan support. Without that net, they fall harder.
The Heavy Backpack: Many of these women are young, have no education, and no money. They are carrying a heavy backpack of "vulnerabilities." When violence hits, it's like adding a giant rock to that backpack. It crushes them faster than it would crush someone with a lighter load.
The Silence: 40% of the women said they didn't ask for help because they were afraid of the shame. They would rather suffer in silence than be judged by their neighbors.

What the Study Says We Must Do

The paper concludes that you cannot fix this problem by just treating the wound (the violence) or just talking to the crowd (stigma). You have to do both at the same time:

Stop the Violence: Prevent the initial hit.
Fix the Community: Teach the neighbors to stop judging and start helping.
Heal the Heart: Most importantly, because the "Shame" score was the highest, the women need special help to stop blaming themselves. They need to be told, "It is not your fault," to take off that heavy backpack.

Summary in One Sentence

This study proves that in Somalia's IDP camps, violence doesn't just hurt women physically; it creates a heavy cycle where the community's judgment makes women hate themselves, and that self-hate is often the heaviest burden of all, keeping them trapped in silence and suffering.

Technical Summary: Analysis of GBV's Impact on Stigma and Internalized Shame among Women and Girls in IDP Camps across Somalia

Problem Statement
Gender-Based Violence (GBV) remains a pervasive crisis within Somalia's fragile Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps, exacerbated by conflict, weak governance, disrupted clan protection, and limited psychosocial services. While the prevalence of violence is documented, there is a critical empirical gap regarding the psychosocial sequelae of GBV, specifically how it drives social stigma and internalized shame among survivors. In the Somali context, these psychosocial outcomes often function as barriers to help-seeking, creating feedback loops of social exclusion and psychological distress. This study addresses the urgent need to understand the mechanisms by which GBV translates into public stigma and self-directed shame, a dynamic that is underexplored in humanitarian literature despite its profound impact on survivor recovery and reintegration.

Methodology
The study employed a quantitative mixed descriptive–explanatory research design to evaluate the impact of GBV on stigma and internalized shame among displaced women and girls (aged ≥18) in urban and rural IDP settings in Somalia.

Sampling: A simple random sampling technique, proportional to camp size, was used to select from an estimated target population of ~3,000 displaced women. Based on Krejcie and Morgan's formula, a sample size of 353 was determined.
Data Collection: Structured online questionnaires, translated into Somali and pilot-tested with 30 participants, were distributed to eligible respondents. The instruments utilized 5-item Likert scales to measure GBV exposure, stigma, and internalized shame.
Participants: Of the 353 distributed questionnaires, 340 valid responses were analyzed, yielding a 96.3% response rate.
Analysis: Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation, multiple linear regression, and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) via SPSS 31 and AMOS. Reliability was assessed using Cronbach's alpha.
Theoretical Framework: The analysis was grounded in an integrated framework combining Intersectionality Theory, the Ecological Model of Violence, Feminist Theory, Social Stigma Theory, and Trauma Theory.

Key Results

Descriptive Findings: The study revealed high levels of GBV exposure (Mean = 4.12), elevated stigma (Mean = 4.08), and the highest levels of internalized shame (Mean = 4.21). Demographically, the sample was characterized by profound vulnerability: 70% were under 35 years old, 60% had no formal education, 60% lacked regular income, and 70% had been displaced two or more times. Crucially, 70% lacked meaningful clan support, and 60% reported needing but lacking access to psychosocial services. Only 10% sought formal help, while 40% avoided help specifically due to fear of stigma.
Correlations: Strong, positive, and statistically significant correlations were found between all variables: GBV–Stigma ( $r=0.612$ ), GBV–Internalized Shame ( $r=0.683$ ), and Stigma–Internalized Shame ( $r=0.594$ ); all $p<0.01$ .
Regression Analysis: GBV was a significant predictor of both stigma ( $\beta=0.612, R^2=0.374$ ) and internalized shame ( $\beta=0.683, R^2=0.466$ ). Notably, GBV explained a greater proportion of the variance in internalized shame (46.6%) than in stigma (37.4%).
Structural Equation Modeling (SEM): The SEM demonstrated a good model fit ( $\chi^2/df=2.45, CFI=0.942, RMSEA=0.068$ ). The model confirmed direct effects where GBV significantly predicted stigma ( $\beta=0.61$ ) and internalized shame ( $\beta=0.68$ ). A significant covariance ( $r=0.59$ ) was observed between stigma and shame, indicating a mutually reinforcing relationship.

Key Contributions

Theoretical: The study empirically validates an integrated framework demonstrating that Intersectionality, Ecological, Feminist, Stigma, and Trauma theories are complementary in explaining GBV outcomes in fragile contexts. It specifically refines Social Stigma Theory by distinguishing between public stigma and self-stigma while showing their strong interrelationship, and extends Trauma Theory by highlighting the potency of internalized shame as a consequence of violence.
Empirical: This research provides the first primary data in Somalia quantifying the strength of the relationship between GBV and psychosocial outcomes (stigma and shame) within IDP camps. It fills a literature gap by moving beyond prevalence statistics to analyze the psychosocial mechanisms of marginalization.
Methodological: The study demonstrates the feasibility of achieving high response rates (96.3%) in sensitive GBV research within fragile settings through the use of trained female liaisons, confidential online administration, and culturally adapted instruments. It offers a replicable analytical framework using SEM for similar humanitarian contexts.
Policy and Practice: The findings provide evidence-based targets for intervention, indicating that effective responses must simultaneously address community-level stigma reduction and individual-level psychological support for internalized shame. The data highlights a systemic failure in service provision, where 60% of survivors needing psychosocial care cannot access it.

Significance and Claims
The paper claims that GBV in Somalia's IDP contexts is not merely a physical or criminal issue but a complex psychosocial crisis where violence drives a cyclical reinforcement of public stigma and internalized shame. The study asserts that internalized shame is a particularly severe outcome, potentially carrying a heavier burden than the violence itself or the community's reaction, driven by patriarchal norms and the betrayal of trust within clan structures.

The authors conclude that addressing GBV requires a shift from isolated interventions to integrated strategies that combine GBV prevention, confidential survivor-centered psychosocial care, community stigma-reduction, and strengthened legal and livelihood pathways. The study positions itself as a necessary scholarly and humanitarian intervention, arguing that without addressing these psychosocial mechanisms, cycles of violence, exclusion, and intergenerational trauma will persist. The research aims to inform evidence-based policy and culturally sensitive support mechanisms that bridge global standards with local Somali realities.