Poster Presentation
Thursday, July 12, 2007
9:30 AM - 10:15 AM
Thursday, July 12, 2007
3:15 PM - 4:00 PM
Restructuring self: women recovering from abusive relationship
Wen-Li Hou, MSN, RN, Department of Nursing, Meiho Institute of Technology, Pingtung, Taiwan/ Institute of Allied Health Sciences,College of Medicine, NCKU, Tainan, Taiwan and Bih-Ching Shu, PhD, RN, Department of Nursing and Institute of Allied Health Sciences, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan.
| Learning Objective #1: understand the recovering in women who had been abused. |
| Learning Objective #2: design appropriate assistance and interventions that may foster recovering for women. |
Abused women who suffered from physical, psychological, and/or sexual abuse from their intimate partners have serious health problem. Some women are able to leave their abusers, survive, and maintain productive lives in community. The purpose of this study was to enhance an understanding of how abused women recovering from leaving abusive relationship. An in-depth interview was used to collect data about women who terminating and recovering from abusive relationship. Until now, two women participated in this study and each woman had been interviewed for one to two times. All interviews were taped and transcribed verbatim onto computer diskette and three verbatim transcripts were formed. Field notes were also recorded. Phenomenology was used to analyze the study. Thematic statements were representative of the women’s recovering from abusive relationship. Using all the phrases, sentence clusters and field notes, the data were reduced until fundamental and accidental themes emerged. “Restructuring self” emerged as the essence of the abused women’s experiences that recovering from abusive relationship. The essence was supported by four themes: “take some control over life”, “link with the society”, “rebuild self-esteem” and “empowerment”. The results of this study add to the knowledge of recovering in women who had been abused and to health care providers who strive to provide assistance and interventions for abused women.