Effects of a strengths-based perspective support group among Taiwanese women who left a violent intimate partner...

To examine the effects of an 8-week strengths-based perspective group intervention on hope, resilience and depression in Taiwanese women who left a violent intimate partner relationship.

Studies on interventions for abused women have primarily focused on psychological problems. However, the effect of group intervention on the psychological strengths of abused women is still unknown.

A two-group, quasi-experimental design using repeated measures was used in this study.

Twenty-nine Taiwanese women who left violent intimate partner relationships were assigned to two groups and five participants did not complete the study. The experimental group (n = 8) underwent an 8-week strengths-based perspective group intervention developed by the investigators; the control group (n = 16) received no intervention. The effects of the intervention on the participants' hope, resilience and depression levels were evaluated as a pretest, post-test 1 (8th week) and post-test 2 (12th week) and were compared. The Chinese version of the State Hope Scale, the 25-item Resilience Scale, and the Taiwanese Depression Questionnaire were used in this study.

On the eighth and twelfth weeks after the strengths-based perspective group intervention, we found significantly lower scores on the depression scale in the experimental group. In the eighth week, participants in the experimental group had significantly lower scores on the pathway of hope subscales than those in the control group.

A strengths-based perspective support group intervention designed specifically for women who left a violent intimate partner relationship significantly reduced the participants' level of depressive symptoms and improved the pathway component of hope.

This research highlights the importance of nurses not only focused on problems but also on the psychological strengths in practice of abused women survivors.