The Effects of Expressive Writing Workshops on Sexual Assault Survivors’ Sense of Empowerment and Connectedness: A Proposed Study

Abstract

Pennebaker’s expressive writing paradigm is useful when examining how journaling, exploring multiple points of view in their writing, and sharing one’s experiences with other sexual assault survivors can lead to rehabilitation through empowerment and connectedness. In this proposed study, participants were assigned to delayed, controlled, or experimental writing workshops to test the effects of disclosing meaningful information about their traumatic experience as opposed to disclosing neutral information about themselves. It should be noted that this proposal synthesized data to report the ways in which expressive writing workshops can be effective tools for recovering survivors of sexual assault. The greatest benefits of expressive writing workshops are most likely to be observed among individuals whose tasks were to write about and discuss their experiences with sexual assault(s) and to reflect on their feelings during and after the event.