Engendering independence while living with purpose: women's lives after leaving abusive intimate partners.

AbstractPurpose: The purpose of this study was to determine the common meanings a history of violence has for women out of abusive and violent relationships with an intimate male partner for 5 or more years.Specific Aims: To describe the common meanings and shared practices of women who left violent and abusive heterosexual intimate relationships 5 or more years ago, the challenges they face in their current lives, and the resources they use to meet those challenges. An additional aim is to elucidate practical advice they have for others who want to be supportive of the efforts of women recovering from intimate partner violence.Methods: An interpretive phenomenological approach using Heideggerian hermeneutics was utilized. Approval of the University Social Sciences Institutional Review Board was obtained. Participants were recruited by means of fliers distributed through a domestic violence listserv and through postings in health clinics in western New York. Interviews were recorded and transcribed. A hermeneutic team approach was used for analysis and interpretation of texts.Results: Twenty-one women of various ages, ethnicities, and backgrounds, who self-identified as being out of abusive relationships for 5 or more years, were interviewed. Six themes were identified: developing and maintaining self reliance; negotiating relationships; creating a safe and supportive environment; challenging societal roles and expectations; nurturing the self; and protecting the children. Engendering independence while living with purpose was the constitutive pattem that unified the themes.Conclusions: Women can successfully establish productive, meaningful lives after violence and will fiercely protect and maintain their independence as they negotiate relationships and developmental challenges throughout their lives. A need for control of their lives and difficulty trusting others remain a lasting legacy of living with a history of violence.Clinical Relevance: This is the first study that examines women's lives 5 or more years after leaving violent and abusive relationships. Findings indicate that women can successfully leave violent and abusive relationships, and challenge the widely accepted notion that women do not leave.Key wordsIntimate partner violence, violence recovery, qualitative research, phenomenologyDespite evidence to the contrary, a commonly held social belief is that women do not leave abusive partners, and if they do leave, they return to the same abuser or take up with other abusive partners. Recently released findings of the 2010 National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey counter this belief by illustrating that substantial numbers of women do leave abusive partners (Black et al., 2011). This report found that 35.6% of women have experienced "rape, physical violence, and/or stalking by an intimate partner in their lifetime" (p. 2). That same survey also reported that the prevalence of rape, physical violence, and or stalking in the past 12 months was 5.9% among women respondents. These findings are consistent with those of previous population-based surveys reporting family and intimate partner violence (Bonomi et al., 2006; Tjaden & Thoennes, 2000). These differences clearly indicate that women can and do leave abusive and violent intimate relationships to pursue lives free of violence (Campbell, Woods, Chouaf, &* Parker, 2000). The purpose of this study was to explore the lives of women who have left abusive partners and have been away from abusive relationships for 5 or more years, to discern the meaning an abusive past has in their current lives, and to examine their strengths and challenges.It is known that women who experience violence in intimate relationships continue to be assaulted, stalked, and harassed, and also face an increased risk for being murdered by their ex-partners while they are leaving and after they complete the separation (Campbell et al" 2003). …