Grounded Theory Approach on Post-Divorce Social Adjustment Experience of Female Victims of Domestic Violence

Abstract

This study used the grounded theory of qualitative research method to approach the psychosocial experience and measure of post-divorce social adaptation of female victims of domestic violence. Participants in this study were women who got divorced due to the victimization by domestic violence, those who got helped from counseling and independent institutions and those who were attempting to adapt themselves to society. Total participants were 12 people. Data collection period was from March to August 2010 and in-depth interviews were conducted three times. Data analysis applied open coding and axial coding based on the grounded theory. The open coding analysis generated 9 categories and 31 subcategories. As a result of the axial coding analysis, the central phenomenon was ‘becoming an independent individual’, the causal condition was ‘the chain of violence’, ‘attempts to avoid divorce’ while the contextual condition was ‘things to bear after divorce’. The intervening condition was ‘social prejudice’ and ‘cause of psychological recovery’. The action/interaction strategy was ‘finding ways to survive’ and ‘laying foundation for self-reliance’ while the result was recovering personal value and happiness.