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“Going Forward like a Grandmother in the Snow” : Personal survival strategies, motherhood, and nature as resources for mothers who have experienced intimate partner violence

“Going Forward like a Grandmother in the Snow” : Personal survival strategies, motherhood, and nature as resources for mothers who have experienced intimate partner violence


Title: “Going Forward like a Grandmother in the Snow” : Personal survival strategies, motherhood, and nature as resources for mothers who have experienced intimate partner violence
Author: Sorsa, Minna
Bryngeirsdóttir, Hulda Sædís
Paavilainen, Eija
Date: 2023-04-04
Language: English
Scope: 1184957
Department: Faculty of Graduate Studies in Health Sciences
Series: International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health; 20(7)
ISSN: 1661-7827
DOI: 10.3390/ijerph20075389
Subject: Heimilisofbeldi; Gender-based violence; Intimate partner violence (IPV); Help-seeking; Qualitative research; Trauma; Trauma recovery
URI: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11815/4674

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Citation:

Sorsa , M , Bryngeirsdóttir , H S & Paavilainen , E 2023 , ' “Going Forward like a Grandmother in the Snow” : Personal survival strategies, motherhood, and nature as resources for mothers who have experienced intimate partner violence ' , International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health , vol. 20 , no. 7 , 5389 . https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20075389

Abstract:

After suffering interpersonal violence (IPV), women survivors can access various interdisciplinary services and programmes to guide their recovery. Nevertheless, many vulnerable women postpone seeking help, sometimes indefinitely. Motherhood especially complicates help-seeking because mothers often want to protect both the perpetrator and their children. Understanding women’s resilience, resources, and capacities in surviving IPV, however, could guide the development of helpful services that women actually access. Thus, in our study, we sought to explore the agency, resources, and reinforcing survival experiences of survivors of IPV. Our data, gathered in Finland during the COVID-19 pandemic, consisted of 12 narratives of mothers told in Clinical Ethnographic Narrative Interviews that were subsequently subjected to thematic analysis. Five themes describing personal resources, motherhood, and nature were identified under the overarching metaphor of “going forward like a grandmother in the snow”. Recognising the agency, resources, capacities, and coping mechanisms of women who have suffered IPV can help in developing professional outreach programmes, promoting women’s early access to useful resources, and, in turn, helping them to stop the possible intergenerational transmission of violence.

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