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"All you Gain is Pain and Sorrow": Facilitators and Barriers to the Prevention of Female Genital Mutilation in High-income Countries

Younas, Fatima; Gutman, Leslie Morrison; (2024) "All you Gain is Pain and Sorrow": Facilitators and Barriers to the Prevention of Female Genital Mutilation in High-income Countries. Trauma Violence Abuse 10.1177/15248380241229744. (In press). Green open access

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Abstract

BACKGROUND: Female genital mutilation (FGM) is a harmful practice that has long-lasting negative impacts on the physical and psychological health of victims. Deemed a global concern, this practice persists in high-income countries (HIC) among certain migrant communities. Given the deleterious effects of the practice, we conducted an updated systematic review of the facilitators and barriers associated with the prevention of FGM in HIC. METHOD: A systematic review of published qualitative studies of FGM in HIC was conducted from 2012 to 2022. The search resulted in 276 studies. Of these, the majority were from low- and middle-income countries (LMIC) and excluded. A total of 14 studies were deemed fit for inclusion and none were excluded during quality appraisal. Relevant data were extracted from the studies and thematically analyzed to identify prevalent themes. RESULTS: A total of 12 themes were identified and the majority reflected barriers to the prevention of FGM including beliefs about female virtue, beliefs about social sanctions, and the preservation of culture, among others. Facilitators to the prevention of FGM were fewer and included memory and trauma from experiencing FGM, knowledge and awareness of the female anatomy, and legislative protection from FGM due to migration. A few themes, such as religious beliefs, acted as both facilitators and barriers. CONCLUSION: Findings highlight the importance of shared cultural and social threads among FGM practicing communities in HIC. Interventions can use these findings to guide the development of sociocultural strategies centered on community-level prevention and reduction of FGM in HIC.

Type: Article
Title: "All you Gain is Pain and Sorrow": Facilitators and Barriers to the Prevention of Female Genital Mutilation in High-income Countries
Location: United States
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1177/15248380241229744
Publisher version: https://doi.org/10.1177/15248380241229744
Language: English
Additional information: This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) which permits any use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access page (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).
Keywords: barriers, facilitators, female genital mutilation, high-income countries
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Div of Psychology and Lang Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Div of Psychology and Lang Sciences > Clinical, Edu and Hlth Psychology
URI: https://discovery-pp.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10187494
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