Resilience is more than Nature: An Exploration of the Conditions that Nurture Resilience Among Rural Women who have Experienced IPV

Tara Mantler; Katie J Shillington; Julia Yates; Panagiota Tryphonopoulos; Kimberley T Jackson; Marilyn Ford-Gilboe

doi:10.1007/s10896-022-00479-2

Resilience is more than Nature: An Exploration of the Conditions that Nurture Resilience Among Rural Women who have Experienced IPV

J Fam Violence. 2022 Dec 7:1-11. doi: 10.1007/s10896-022-00479-2. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Tara Mantler¹, Katie J Shillington², Julia Yates², Panagiota Tryphonopoulos³, Kimberley T Jackson³, Marilyn Ford-Gilboe³

Affiliations

¹ School of Health Studies, Faculty of Health Sciences, The University of Western Ontario, HSB Room 332, 1151 Richmond Street, London, Ontario N6A 5B9 Canada.
² Health and Rehabilitation Sciences Program, Faculty of Health Sciences, The University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario Canada.
³ Arthur Labatt Family School of Nursing, Faculty of Health Sciences, The University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario Canada.

Abstract

Purpose: Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a significant public health concern exacerbated by the pandemic. Experiences of violence vary based on geographic location and living in rural communities has been found, in some contexts, to amplify consequences of IPV. Resilience, the ability to survive and thrive despite facing adversity, has long been a dominant narrative within IPV literature, yet little is known about how resilience is cultivated among rural women experiencing violence. The purpose of this study was to explore how rural women experiencing IPV cultivate resilience.

Methods: Using Interpretive Description, in-depth qualitative interviews were conducted with 14 women who experienced IPV and 12 staff from women's shelters across rural communities in Ontario, Canada to elicit perspectives about women's resilience and environmental conditions that may shape resilience in the context of IPV.

Results: Women's resilience was cultivated by personal changes aimed at surviving or thriving, and aspects of their environment that enabled or created barriers for resilience. Women adopted a positive, hopeful mindset and bolstered their inner strength through living from a place of integrity, being resolute in decisions, and using mental resistance when faced with doubt. Women faced barriers to resilience in the form of unhelpful help and COVID-19 public health guidelines. Paradoxically, living in a rural community both cultivated and undermined resilience.

Conclusions: Supporting women to cultivate resilience through modifying environmental factors to enable personal strengths to flourish is paramount in supporting women who have experienced IPV, particularly in rural contexts.

Keywords: COVID-19; Intimate partner violence; Isolation; Resilience; Rural; Shelter services; Stigma; Thriving.

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