Keywords

child health, custody, domestic violence, emotional health, feminist grounded theory, health promotion, intimate partner violence, mental health, recovery, single-parent family, women's health

Authors

1. Wuest, Judith PhD, RN
2. Merritt-Gray, Marilyn MN, RN
3. Ford-Gilboe, Marilyn PhD, RN

Abstract

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.