Moving From Surviving to Thriving: African American Women Recovering From Intimate Male Partner Abuse

Abstract

In this ethnographic study, a womanist framework was used to investigate the process of recovery from domestic violence. A purposive sample of African American women (N = 21) was interviewed to gain understanding of their recovery process. Survivorship-thriving was the overarching process. Six themes related to survivorship-thriving were identified: (a) Sharing secrets/Shattering silences--sharing information about the abuse with others; (b) Reclaiming the Self-defining oneself separate from abuser and society; (c) Renewing the Spirit-nurturing and restoring the spiritual and emotional self; (d) Self-healing through Forgiveness--forgiving their partners for the abuse and violence; (e) Finding inspiration in the Future-looking to the future with optimism; and (f) Self-generativity by Engaging in Social Activism--participating in prosocial activities to promote social change. This article presents recovery oriented towards survivorship-thriving as a transformative process overall characterized by resilience and self-generativity. This represents more than just recovery as return to homeostasis or "back to normal." Implications for survivor-informed practices are included.

Recovery Experiences of Taiwanese Women After Terminating Abusive Relationships

“…Our study findings are similar to previous studies related to the recovery experience (Farrell, 1996a(Farrell, , 1996bLandenburger, 1989;Taylor, 2004), demonstrating that abused women were influenced by cultural shame and struggled for survival (Landenburger, 1989), equipped themselves for increasing their mastery by enhancing individual potential and ability and actively seeking resources (Taylor, 2004), and rebuilt their self-value and life meaning (Farrell, 1996a(Farrell, , 1996bLandenburger, 1989;Taylor, 2004). The major difference compared to previous studies (Farrell, 1996a(Farrell, , 1996bLandenburger, 1989;Taylor, 2004) was the reason for cultural shame and self-awareness in the recovery process was more influential for women who had a more rigid traditional female role.…”

“…The major difference compared to previous studies (Farrell, 1996a(Farrell, , 1996bLandenburger, 1989;Taylor, 2004) was the reason for cultural shame and self-awareness in the recovery process was more influential for women who had a more rigid traditional female role. Hence, it is important to pay attention to issues related to culture and gender and whether or not self-discovery is desired during abused Taiwanese women's recovering processes after terminating abusive relationships.…”

“…They equipped themselves by increasing their potential and abilities, and by readjusting their attitudes and flexibility to better control their lives. During their journey to recovery, women sought psychological and material support, individually and in groups, to create mastery, similar to the report of Taylor (2004). They mastered and coped effectively with their stress and frustration, which allowed them to feel useful and increase their self-esteem.…”

“It’s Brought Me a Lot Closer to Who I Am”: A Mixed Methods Study of Posttraumatic Growth and Positive Change Following a First Episode of Psychosis

“…Such changes are consistent with the model of posttraumatic growth (7). These changes have been described in studies of recovery in FEP (4) and may reflect participants’ perceptions that unhealthy relationships contributed to their psychosis (57).…”

Engaging Racial Autoethnography as a Teaching Tool for Womanist Inquiry

“…A womanist framework has clearly been articulated by Collins,8 implemented in research with African American women, 6,9,10 and used in the education of African American nursing scholars. 11 Collins 8 delineates 4 dimensions of womanist epistemology: (1) concrete experience as a criterion of meaning, (2) the use of dialogue in assessing knowledge claims, (3) an ethic of caring, and (4) an ethic of personal accountability.…”