Exploring the process of leaving: Experiences of intimate partner violence survivors with children

The majority of the existing theories on the process of leaving tend to be focused on individual level factors. However, we know based on Bronfenbrenner's Ecological Systems Theory that, in addition to individual level factors, a person is influenced by many other layers such as the micro, meso, exo, and macro levels. Hence, there is a need to uncover how ecological factors beyond the individual level impact the process of leaving for survivors of intimate partner violence (IPV). Additionally, very few studies on the process of leaving actually pay attention to child(ren) related factors. Consequently, this study sought to uncover the mechanisms by which ecological factors beyond the individual level influence the process of leaving for survivors of IPV with children. The study utilized 20 qualitative interviews with IPV survivors who had dependant age children, and who were residing at a domestic violence shelter. The results from the study illustrate the ways in which, at the microlevel, the behaviors of friends, family, children and the abuser, and at the mesolevel, the interactions between them, influence the process of leaving of the survivor. The results also illustrate how structural entities at the exolevel, along with the gatekeepers of those entities impact the process of leaving of survivors of IPV. In being a study exclusively on survivors who are mothers, the study results also highlight the unique relationships between the ecological factors that are related to children and the process of leaving. And finally, the results exemplify the dynamic relationship between micro, meso, and exolevel factors and a survivor's self defined needs and its impact on the process of leaving. The findings from this study provides us with much needed information that can be utilized to inform the development and improvement of interventions geared towards aiding survivors of IPV with children during the process of leaving and to influence policy decisions that impact survivors of IPV.