Recovery Experiences of Taiwanese Women After Terminating Abusive Relationships

Abstract

This article describes the recovery experiences of women who had suffered intimate partner violence in Taiwan. A phenomenological study design using semi-structured interviews was used to obtain data from a purposive sample of eight women. Colaizzi's approach to narrative analysis was applied. Findings indicate that "reconstructing the self" emerged as the essence of the women's recovery experiences. Four themes were identified: Feeling shame, creating mastery, recognizing the imperfect self, and embodying the self by helping others. Understanding the recovery experience is an important step in effectively assisting women to recover from abusive relationships and to reconstruct their lives.

Effects of a strengths‐based perspective support group among Taiwanese women who left a violent intimate partner relationship

“…This finding is normal when victims of IPV explore themselves while recovering (Hou et al . ). Moreover, 50% of the experimental group participants and 62·5% of the control group participants had moderate‐to‐high levels of resilience at baseline; therefore, the brief intervention duration, follow‐up time or both might be why the resilience level did not significantly change.…”

“…In the future study, we suggest that increasing the sample size and extending the time of interventions to corroborate the results of this study. Moreover, economic status, their children's disobedient behaviours and a poor relationship with their children are important issues, and nurses need to assist abused women (Hou et al 2013) using a strengthsbased perspective approach to discover her strengths. For example, guiding the woman to think what she wants more of in her life, what she is doing well and how she planned to achieve her life goals.…”

“…Thus, the key to helping women recover from IPV is to empower women's potential strengths, guide the women's goal setting and provide resources for women to manage problems in their daily lives to reconstruct their lives (Hou et al . ).…”

“…Feeling shame, creating mastery, recognizing the imperfect self and embodying the self by helping others are the four elements of the recovery process in Taiwanese women who ended their abusive relationship. Thus, the key to helping women recover from IPV is to empower women's potential strengths, guide the women's goal setting and provide resources for women to manage problems in their daily lives to reconstruct their lives (Hou et al 2013).…”

Safety for Aboriginal Women in Couples Counseling Where There is a History of Intimate Partner Violence

“…Heavy emotional toll and confusion about responsibility for allowing abuse or staying with the abuser can lead to guilt and shame (Dietrich & Schuett, 2013). There may also be a belief that the abuse is somehow deserved or that she is at fault, as well as fear of punishment for telling (Hou, Ko, & Shu, 2013).…”