Exploring Coping Strategies Among Older Women Who Have Experienced Intimate Partner Violence During COVID-19

Abstract

This interpretive description study explored coping among older women in Ontario experiencing intimate partner violence (IPV) during COVID-19. Twelve in-depth interviews with older women found age-related normative beliefs played a role in how older women viewed their lives and how they looked beyond their experiences of IPV. Their roles as caretakers and homemakers influenced their response to IPV, and COVID-19 exacerbated feelings of lost time and loneliness. Coping strategies consisted of social support, including 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.