*2.3. Measure*

For the collection of data, semi-structured, in-depth interviews, with an interview guide to collect qualitative data, developed for this specific purpose and consisting of six sections, were used. In the first section, the perception of the respondents about the notions of dating and love was explored; the second section is intended to identify and characterize the participants' knowledge regarding the DV problem, namely the identification of abusive typologies associated with DV, the extent of abuse, motivations for the use of violence by the aggressor, and consequences for the victim and aggressor. The third section is intended to characterize abusive experiences and their dynamics. In the fourth section, the participants were asked about the motivations for staying in abusive relationships and the barriers to DV disclosure. The fifth section referred to the reasons for the disclosure of the abusive situation by the participants and, on the type of sources required, either informal or formal, the reason for the DV disclosure or non-disclosure and the types of support provided. Finally, the sixth section took the assessment of the effectiveness of DV disclosure in resolving dating abuse situations into account. Participants were also asked to complete a sociodemographic questionnaire to characterize them in terms of gender, age and duration of relationships. Only Sections 3 and 4 of the interview guide are presented in this paper.

### *2.4. Data Analysis*

Thematic data analysis, which is based on a constructionist perspective, was used. It allows understanding the phenomenon under analysis, its meaning and the way it is experienced, socially constructed and reproduced, as highlighted by Braun and Clarke (2006). The inductive coding procedure was adopted. The themes identified were strongly connected to the data, not attempting to adjust to a pre-existing coding framework, according to what is also advocated by the same authors. The coding was as inclusive as possible, to avoid concealing any potentially important extract in the theme. Various strategies were employed to help ensure credibility and trustworthiness of data: (i) it was intended to ensure saturation of the characteristics of the participants in the sample; (ii) a more dense description of the results was carried out, and the entire coding process was audited by an experienced researcher; (iii) throughout the process, from recruitment to interviewing and data analysis, researchers have always sought to reflect and debate data, sharing preliminary impressions.
