Exploring Coping Strategies Among Older Women Who Have Experienced Intimate Partner Violence During COIVD-19
Abstract
With the emergence of COVID-19 public health measures including the stay-at-home order, the effects of intimate partner violence (IPV) have become more severe for women while the availability of support has become hampered. The purpose of this interpretive description study was to explore coping among older women in Ontario experiencing IPV during COVID-19. 12 in-depth interviews with older women found age-related normative beliefs played a key role in how older women viewed their lives and how they looked beyond their experiences of IPV. Older women stressed how their roles as caretakers and homemakers influenced their response to IPV and that COVID-19 exacerbated feelings of lost time and loneliness. Emotion-focused coping strategies consisted of social support, and problem-focused included telephone formal services and physical activities. Women expressed a lack of appropriate services and financial limitations as barriers. They identified the need for age-appropriate services that acknowledge their unique experiences.