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Immigrant women and wife abuse : a phenomenological exploration

University of British Columbia

A qualitative phenomenological research design was used to explore and illustrate the experience of living in and leaving an abusive relationship for immigrant women. Five women from various cultural backgrounds from the Greater Vancouver area volunteered to describe their experiences of living in and leaving their abusive marriages in individual, in-depth, audiotaped interviews. Eight common themes were extracted from the interview transcripts using Colaizzi's (1978) seven-step procedure for phenomenological data analysis. The results indicated that the women felt increasingly vulnerable and at risk, accountable for the abuse, ashamed and worthless, and betrayed and abandoned the longer they stayed in their relationships. While the women continued to act in many resourceful ways to control the abuse and to maintain their personal freedom, they experienced that their sense of self was eroding and that they became increasingly trapped in their marriages. While most of the participants did not mention lack of language proficiency as a barrier, they all felt that their unfamiliarity with the larger Canadian society contributed to a sense of isolation and unawareness of their rights and available services. The participants reported that these factors compounded their fear and entrapment in their abusive relationships. The women reported that concern for their and their children's safety and welfare, and the meaninglessness of their lives if they stayed in their abusive relationships, served as catalysts for them to move out. While the participants in this study continued to struggle with such things as finances, helping their children to heal from the adverse affects of the abuse, and their own healing after they had left their abusive husbands, they all reported enjoying their new found freedom and independence, and their stronger sense of self and self-reliance that had emerged during the process.

Thesis/Dissertation

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2009-01-27

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http://hdl.handle.net/2429/3931

Counselling Psychology

University of British Columbia

UBCV

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