A research report submitted to the Family Medicine Department, Faculty of Health
Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for
the degree of Master of Family Medicine / Background: Intimate partner violence is problem world-wide and has been attributed to
many factors. South Africa has one of the highest IPV statistics in the world and therefore
poses a definite need to address it. For abused women the process of leaving an intimate
partner is difficult and mired in an abundance of complex and entwined factors which
influence the decision to leave or stay in an abusive relationship. This qualitative study
explored women’s experiences of leaving abusive relationships and the critical factors
that pushed them to leave their abusive relationships.
Methods: In-depth interviews were conducted with eleven women (over 18 years) who
had experienced partner abuse and were current residents of Ikaya Le Themba Women’s
Shelter in Johannesburg. All interviews were audio-taped with consent, and translated
where necessary and transcribed verbatim. Thematic analysis, which entails an analysis
of emerging themes from the interviews, was conducted in order to understand factors
that led to abused leaving abusive relationships.
Results: Two themes were identified as instrumental to freeing women from abuse.
These were reaching a turning point and leaving the abusive relationship. The important
turning points were progression of violence, realization that the partner will not change,
effect of abuse on children and women’s feelings due to abuse. Leaving the abusive,
relationship was facilitated by social and family support, access to shelters and
availability of an opportunity to leave.
Conclusions: Findings suggest that increasing awareness about existence of shelters is
crucial to facilitate early departure. Social and family support was fundamental in
facilitating leaving abusive relationships.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:wits/oai:wiredspace.wits.ac.za:10539/13906 |
| Date | January 2012 |
| Creators | Baholo, M |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | application/pdf |
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