School Strategies of Children with Multiple Relocations at Refuges for Abused Women

ABSTRACT

Worldwide, domestic violence forces many mothers with their children into refuges for abused women. Some children experience multiple residential relocations and continual schooling disruption. Limited research exists exploring these children's school experiences. This article examines their strategies at school. Data were collected in qualitative interviews with 20 children, ages 6–16, with multiple stays at Norwegian refuges. Data were coded according to the constructivist approach to grounded theory. The generated code “thought control” led to Bandura's theory of “self-efficacy and thought control” as the framework for data analysis. Children used six strategies to regulate their emotional state at school. The strategies were: imaginative safety, recreational learning, healing talks, physical activity, divertive play, and creative explanations.

KEYWORDS:

• Strategies
• self-efficacy
• domestic violence
• children
• school

Acknowledgements

A special thanks to the Norwegian Centre for violence and Traumatic Stress Studies (NKVTS) for hosting this research project (2013–2018). Thanks to Carolina Øverlien and Arild Raaheim for their support and guiding comments. Special thanks to Ingrid Helleve for her feedback.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Funding

This research was funded by Extrastiftelsen [grant number 2012/2/0246].