Achieving Non-Violence in Abusive Relationships & Women’s Health

Study Summary

Study Objectives

Related Reports

Study Summary:

Intimate partner violence is an important social and public health concern. One in four Canadian women experiences violence from a male partner, and this violence has negative health consequences for women and their children. To date, the focus of most research has been on ways to a) prevent intimate partner violence, b) clinically and judicially treat men who abuse women, and c) assist women to leave. Leaving is not an isolated event but an involved process that may take many years. The process of leaving is not only influenced by women’s own actions and thinking, but also by social and cultural factors. However, most women who are being abused do not want to leave their partners; rather they want the violence to stop.  In fact, very few women (43%) leave their abusive partners and even fewer (13%) sustain the separation. Violence does not end for all women who leave; in fact violence often continues and intensifies with significant health consequences. It is widely believed that for women who do not leave the violence never stops. However, there is growing evidence that some abusive relationships do alter and become non-violent.  The process by which relationships become and remain non-violent, and the factors that influence the process are unknown.  Moreover, the health consequences for these women are not understood.

The purpose of this research is to expand our understanding of the process and health consequences for women achieving nonviolence in intimate partner relationships using feminist grounded theory.

Study Objectives:

1. To discover how those women who are able to achieve nonviolence in abusive intimate partner relationships do so.
    

2. To identify the situational and social conditions that fortify and hamper women working toward nonviolence in abusive intimate partner relationships.
    

3. To delineate how women’s health and well-being affects and is affected by the process of working toward nonviolence.

Findings from this study will expand our understanding of this important social and health problem.  They have the potential to reframe and reveal new ways of looking at and addressing intimate partner violence.  This study will look more closely at the strengths of women and their survival strategies, highlighting what support is helpful and hindering in their attempts to achieve nonviolence and improve their health. The findings will inform the development of services and programs for women experiencing intimate partner violence, and support achieving nonviolence in diverse ways.

Related Reports:

Presentations

Wuest, J., & Merritt-Gray, M. (2006, April). Women’s health and shifting the dynamic of power and control in abusive intimate partner relationships.  Paper presented at  Qualitative Health Research Conference, Edmonton, Alberta.