Learn to live with it: Lived experience of Palestinian women suffering from intimate partner violence

Abstract

Background and Aim: Intimate partner violence has become a growing concern all over the world and causes numerous consequences and provokes various reactions among women. The present study was aimed to understand the lived experience of Palestinian women who suffered domestic violence by an intimate partner. Methods: In this hermeneutic phenomenological study, van Manen's methodical steps were used to conduct the study. An in-depth face-to-face semi-structured interview was conducted to 11 survivors of intimate partner violence. Data were analyzed by thematic analysis method. Results: “learn to live with it” was the core theme, which extracted from four subthemes including “failure to change for better,” “failure to gain support,” “failure to enjoy sexual life,” and “failure to make decisions.” Learn to live with it refers to participants' acceptance to their unpleasant situation because they could not change it. Conclusion: Palestinian women who suffer from violence fail to cope with appropriately due to traditional culture and lack of familial and economic dependence.

Keywords

• Intimate partner violence
• lived experience
• Palestine
• phenomenology