Research knowledge base for GBV questions, methods, and service pathways
This is now a research knowledge base rather than a simple FAQ. Search across the published corpus, filter by research lens, and move directly into the source material behind each answer.
Published entries
210
Curated answers grounded in public South African GBV, justice, and support sources.
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7
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Source sets
49
Each answer stays tied to a public source so researchers can verify context.
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Move between methods, service pathways, risk factors, legal process, survivor support, and data interpretation without losing source traceability.
Methods
Study design, methodology, definitions, and how the evidence was assembled.
Service pathways
How people move through hospitals, police, shelters, courts, and referral systems.
Risk factors
Drivers of violence, vulnerability, exposure, and intersectional risk patterns.
Legal process
Rights, reporting, police procedure, court process, and legal protections.
Survivor support
Healing, counselling, trauma-informed support, and practical care for survivors.
Data interpretation
Limits, caveats, bias, and guidance for reading the evidence responsibly.
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Service pathways
4 entriesHow people move through hospitals, police, shelters, courts, and referral systems.
The NACOSA guidelines describe psychological first aid as practical, calm, survivor-centred support in the acute stage of trauma. It includes helping the survivor feel safe, explaining procedures, identifying immediate needs, connecting them to support people and services, and avoiding overwhelming them with too much information at once.
The NACOSA guidelines warn that repeated retelling and long unattended waits can deepen secondary victimisation. Good services should minimise the number of people a survivor is exposed to, reduce unnecessary retelling, and make sure the survivor is treated promptly and compassionately.
The NACOSA guidance says services should directly ask disabled survivors what support they need, make communication accessible, avoid speaking through carers where possible, and use interpreters or other aids appropriately. It also says staff should ask transgender survivors how they want to be addressed and should respond in ways that protect dignity and access.
The NACOSA standards recommend comfort packs with basics such as underwear, sanitary pads, soap, a toothbrush, a facecloth, and a snack. A comfort pack is small, but it can help restore dignity and immediate physical comfort when clothing, privacy, and a sense of control have been disrupted.
Research lens
Legal process
3 entriesRights, reporting, police procedure, court process, and legal protections.
The NACOSA standards say survivors should have access to a private, lockable counselling room on a 24-hour basis, a reassuring and disability-accessible environment, and an up-to-date referral list covering shelters, counselling, disability services, LGBTI survivors, refugees, and migrants. The aim is to make reporting safer and more usable in practice.
Yes. The NACOSA guidelines and Sexual Offences Act materials both make clear that health services must be provided regardless of whether a survivor has opened a criminal case. Medical care, HIV prevention, pregnancy prevention, forensic examination, and counselling should not depend on being ready to report first.
The NACOSA standards say the first dose of PEP should be provided within two hours of a survivor reporting at a station or health facility. The point is not to create a harsh deadline for survivors, but to reduce avoidable service delays once they have actually reached help.