Intimate Partner Abuse and Older Women: Exploring the Connection Between Abuse, Ageing and Health

Abstract

Intimate Partner Abuse (IPA) has been shown to negatively affect health in ageing women (McGarry et al., 2010). As the population in Canada matures, understanding how IPA affects and intersects with health and ageing becomes important for women, our health care system and governments. This research explores perspectives of women over 65, who have experienced IPA in an earlier stage of their lives, and how this experience intersects and affects with their health and ageing. The experiences of ten women who have lived through IPA relationships are investigated using the qualitative method of grounded theory. The significance of this research is three-fold. First, it serves to generate awareness about women’s perceptions of their own health and aging processes following IPA. Second, it adds to what is known about older women who have experienced abuse. And finally, this research has the potential to improve health care for older women who have experienced abuse.