Survivors of partner violence: Factors and psychological processes involved in the decision to stay or leave the relationship

Abstract

Among all the contexts of violence against women, intimate partner violence is the most frequent worldwide, generating harmful consequences for women, family, and society. In the scientific field, strenuous efforts are made to identify those factors associated with this type of violence. Thus, it is essential to investigate those reasons referred by the same protagonists to continue or end a violent relationship, since such can assume the function of subjective factors that determine their behavior. The objective of the study was to identify and understand the psychological factors and processes that influenced the woman’s decision to continue or end a violent relationship. Using a qualitative methodology and a grounded theory design, individual interviews and two focus group sessions were conducted with nine adult women survivors in Lima, Peru, of a heterosexual violent relationship. The data were analyzed through a constant comparison process. The results indicate that factors such as emotional dependence, protective tendency, and irrational belief system influenced the participants to continue the violent relationship, while factors such as prioritization of children’s welfare and social support mobilized psychological coping processes to end the relationship. These results show the active role assumed by the group of women to face partner violence; the findings should be considered in the implementation of treatment and prevention programs to optimize the quality of care in health services.