Abstract
This study examines women’s experiences with domestic violence and receiving a protection order based on fourteen semi-structured interviews with women survivors in Türkiye. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 14 women survivors who obtained protection orders in Türkiye. Interpretive phenomenological analysis was used. The phenomenological analysis revealed two major themes: (a) silence with being blamed and (b) the process of protection orders. While women were able to identify the reasons for violence, such as their partners’ anger and tolerance of violence, they mostly only used the protection order when the level of violence and abuse was unbearable and life-threatening. We discuss how women can protect themselves before their lives become threatening. This study suggests that policymakers and human services should consider protecting women survivors’ well-being both during and after receiving protection orders.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Many thanks to the participants who attended the interviews and took part of this research. Special thanks to the support of the Violence Prevention and Monitoring Center (VPMC), part of the Provincial Directorate of Family and Social Services in Bartın within Ministry of Family and Social Services. We also thank to the partial support of the TÜBİTAK undergraduate student fellows; Aslıhan Demir, Emine Eker from the Psychology Department and master student Mustafa Toran from the Psychological Counselling and Guidance at Bartın University.