Representations of mothers victims of intimate partner violence about their parenthood

Objectives: National and international research have been demonstrating that the experience of intimate partner violence tends to influence significantly parenting. From this point of view and aiming to know representations... [ view full abstract ]

Objectives: National and international research have been demonstrating that the experience of intimate partner violence tends to influence significantly parenting. From this point of view and aiming to know representations of a specific group of mothers victims of intimate partner violence and understand, in particular, reasons, motives, encouragements and discouragements associated to motherhood and educational practices in a victimization context, a qualitative study was developed.  Procedures: It was a cross-sectional descriptive study, with a group of mothers victims of intimate partner violence that consent to be interviewed and helped us to understand how their victimization experiences influenced their roles as mothers and their parenting skills. To collect data a semi-structured interview guide with open questions was built, answers were audio recorded and after, transcribed, to categorical analysis. Results: Emerging results allow us to know meanings and feelings associated to mother’ role, to understand how each mother defines herself on it, to find out what factors influence parenting quality, relationship with children and motives to leave the abusive relation with partner. Conclusions: This study pretends to contribute to a deeper knowledge about factors that influence motherhood in women victims of violence by their intimate partners and constitute a baseline to support and psychosocial intervention, to improve their role as mothers and their relation with children.