A Needs-Based Theoretical Approach to Public and Private Constructions of Victims' Needs in Post-Conflict Northern Ireland

Following nearly 30 years of protracted violence in Northern Ireland, the construction of victims' needs post- conflict, has proven to be a complex and multi-faceted endeavour (Ferguson, Burgress & Hollywood, 2010). Despite the widespread acknowledgement of victims' needs in the public sphere (e.g., Kelly & Smith, 1999), there is comparatively much less empirical scrutiny on this topic in the psychological literature. To address this lacuna, a deductive a priori coding template was devised from a needs' based theoretical framework (Heine, Proulx & Vohs, 2006) and a review of the psychological literature on the victims of the Northern Ireland conflict was conducted. Using a deductive thematic approach (Crabtree & Miller, 1999), the coding template was applied to data that emerged from interviews with victims of terrorism and victims' group representatives as well as to written policy documents addressing the needs of victims of political violence in Northern Ireland. The analysis revealed the discrepancies that exist between public and private constructions of needs, the importance of the public construction of victimhood in mediating these needs and the centrality of notions of expectation and ownership in thinking about victim’s needs