Recovery experiences of Taiwanese women after terminating abusive relationships: a phenomenology study

This article describes the recovery experiences of women who had suffered intimate partner violence in Taiwan. A phenomenological study design using semi-structured interviews was used to obtain data from a purposive sample of eight women. Colaizzi's approach to narrative analysis was applied. Findings indicate that "reconstructing the self" emerged as the essence of the women's recovery experiences. Four themes were identified: Feeling shame, creating mastery, recognizing the imperfect self, and embodying the self by helping others. Understanding the recovery experience is an important step in effectively assisting women to recover from abusive relationships and to reconstruct their lives.