Regenerating family: strengthening the emotional health of mothers and children in the context of intimate partner violence.
Although concern for their children's well-being is pivotal in mothers' decisions to leave abusive partners, rarely is lone-parent family life after leaving framed as beneficial for family members' emotional health. In this feminist grounded theory study of family health promotion in the aftermath of intimate partner violence, we learned that families strengthen their emotional health by purposefully replacing previously destructive patterns of interaction with predictable, supportive ways of getting along in a process called regenerating family. These findings add to our knowledge of family development and how families promote their health when they have experienced intimate partner violence.
Wuest
Judith
J
Faculty of Nursing, University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, New Brunswick E3B 5A3, Canada. wuest@unb.ca
Merritt-Gray
Marilyn
M
Ford-Gilboe
Marilyn
M
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D001294:Attitude to Health; D018585:Battered Women / Q000523:psychology*; D002648:Child; D002669:Child Welfare; D005192:Family Health; D005260:Female; D019513:Feminism; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008603:Mental Health; D009034:Mother-Child Relations; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology*; D020380:Needs Assessment; D009509:New Brunswick; D015404:Nursing Methodology Research; D009742:Nursing Theory; D009864:Ontario; D002666:Psychology, Child; D036301:Qualitative Research; D013179:Spouse Abuse / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016387:Women's Health