Citation

Peixoto AS, Machado C. Psicologia Educação Cultura 2010; 14(2): 373-399.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2010, Colégio Internato dos Carvalhos)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

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Abstract

This paper presents a research project about the subjective experience of women victims of partner abuse, when they are placed in a shelter. Data were collected through in-depth interviews with eighteen women, realized at the moment of admission into the institution and at the moment women leave the shelter. These interviews were analyzed through content analysis. Results show that the decision of going to the shelter was motivated by the belief that the partner would not change his behavior, together with the fact that aggressions were becoming more and more violent. These facts lead women to perceive their permanence in the relationship as unsustainable and to perceive the shelter as the only way to achieve safety. Despite this positive valuation, the shelter is also somewhat feared, since women perceive it as a closed and hierarchical structure, in which they will be confined and obliged to share all their time and space with other women. The results at the moment of leaving the institutions, however, do not confirm these negative expectations. All women describe their experience as very positive, namely the psychological help they received, the support net they established with other women, the safety they felt, and the changes occurred in their children. This way, they feel that the shelter provided them the conditions for positive personal change and allowed them to give the first steps to the construction of an autonomous life project.