Title: “You could talk about it” – a study of the experiences of victims of crime who have been receiving help from The Swedish Association for Victim Support.

We got in touch with ten victims of crime through a local chapter of The Swedish Association for Victim Support and examined their emotional experiences of the help that was given to them from this organization.

Background: Crime has always been a part of society and anyone can be subjected to some form of crime. Whenever a crime is perpetrated, there is always a victim. The purpose of this essay is to investigate how victims of crime emotionally experience the help they receive from the national association in Sweden who help and support victims of crime.

Methods: We employed a qualitative method in the process of investigating the topic of this essay, and by employing interviews we got a deeper understanding of how victims of crime experience the help they receive. We then analyzed the gathered qualitative material by employing the theories of Johan Cullberg and Aaron Antonovsky. We were thereby able to make several conclusions about how the emotional experiences can take shape for victims of crime, who receive help from The Swedish Association for Victim Support.

Conclusions: The people we studied experienced, for the most part, the support they received as helpful and they pointed out the importance of being able to talk about their emotional experiences with a fellow human being.