"If I hadn't seen it that day, I wouldn't be here today": The Role of Digital Awareness Content on Social Media in Recognizing Gender-based Violence

Paper Title

"If I hadn't seen it that day, I wouldn't be here today': The Role of Digital Awareness Content on Social Media in Recognizing Gender-based Violence"

Publication Info

• Topic area: The role of digital awareness content on social media in recognizing and addressing gender-based violence.
• Keywords: Gender-based violence, digital awareness, social media, trauma-informed design, help-seeking, TikTok, Instagram, algorithmic recommendations, recognition, emotional safety.

Background and Problem

• Problem / challenge: Limited understanding exists of how individuals affected by gender-based violence (GBV) perceive and engage with digital awareness content, and how this content supports recognition and early help-seeking. Current awareness strategies often assume linear help-seeking pathways, overlooking the gradual and nonlinear nature of recognition.
• Significance: GBV is a pervasive global issue affecting nearly one in three women. Digital platforms are increasingly central to awareness and support, especially for those unable to access offline resources. Understanding how digital content fosters recognition can improve interventions and support systems.
• Motivation and related work: Prior research has focused on formal awareness campaigns, hashtag activism, and digital help-seeking in broader contexts (e.g., mental health). However, little is known about how affected individuals engage with digital awareness content during the early stages of recognizing abuse. This study addresses this gap by centering the lived experiences of women affected by GBV.

Solution

• Proposed approach: A mixed-methods study combining surveys and interviews to explore how individuals affected by GBV perceive and engage with digital awareness content, and how this content supports recognition and early help-seeking.
• Novelty:
  1. Empirical insights into how GBV-affected individuals experience digital awareness content during recognition and help-seeking.
  2. Design recommendations for trauma-informed awareness content and platforms that respect user agency and emotional readiness.
  3. Analysis of how algorithmic recommendations and platform design shape recognition and engagement.
• Procedure and key techniques:
  • Conducted 63 surveys and 12 qualitative interviews with women aged 19–27 from Western Europe who had experienced GBV.
  • Used reflexive thematic analysis to identify patterns in participants’ experiences with digital awareness content.
  • Explored how participants encountered, engaged with, and reflected on digital content, and how it influenced their recognition and help-seeking processes.

Results

• Concrete findings:
  • 60.3% of participants reported that social media helped them recognize abuse, while 39.7% said it helped them take action to leave or change their situation.
  • Personal stories (73.0%) and educational videos (61.9%) were the most helpful content types for recognizing abuse.
  • Passive exposure through algorithms (e.g., TikTok’s For You Page) was a key entry point for recognition, but overexposure and repetitive content caused emotional exhaustion.
• Advantage over baselines: Highlights the importance of trauma-informed, peer-led narratives and gradual, non-linear pathways for recognition, contrasting with traditional linear help-seeking models.
• Experiments / evaluation:
  • Survey data analyzed descriptively; interviews analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis.
  • Participants described encountering content passively, using it to reflect on their experiences, and navigating emotional and practical barriers to help-seeking.
• Limitations and future work:
  • Limited sample size and lack of detailed demographic data to protect anonymity and emotional well-being.
  • Focused on Western European contexts; future work should explore diverse cultural and geographic settings.
  • Calls for further research on designing trauma-informed digital platforms and awareness content.

Summary

This study investigates how digital awareness content on social media supports the recognition of gender-based violence (GBV) and early help-seeking. Through surveys and interviews, it finds that passive algorithmic exposure often serves as a critical entry point for recognition, providing language, validation, and perspective. However, current platforms fail to support the gradual, nonlinear nature of recognition, often overwhelming users with repetitive content or jumping prematurely to formal help-seeking directives. The paper proposes trauma-informed design strategies, including emotionally safe narratives, structured search pathways, private engagement features, and user control over exposure. These findings inform the design of digital ecosystems that empower reflection, recognition, and healing.