Survivor's costs of saying no: exploring the experience of accessing services for intimate partner violence

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a crucial public health concern with substantial detrimental effects, including poorer physical and mental health as well as increased difficulties accessing formal services. Most research to date has focused on frequencies, barriers, and facilitators of service use among IPV survivors. However, what remains poorly understood is the perspectives of IPV survivors on their experiences of accessing multiple services after leaving the abusive situations. To answer this, six one-on-one semi-structured interviews were conducted with survivors using expanded definition of “services,” which included social services, shelters, health care, police, legal assistance, and so forth. Data were analyzed using Constant Comparison. Four resulting themes were (a) Positive Aspects, (b) Negative Aspects, (c) Impact of Experiences With Services, and (d) Contextual Factors. Within each of these categories, several sub-categories emerged and are discussed within the context of the literature and recommendations are made for improving services for IPV survivors.