One in three Canadian women will experience intimate partner violence (IPV) in their lifetime, and 75% of them have a probable brain injury (BI) (Haag et al., 2022). Despite the recent growth of IPV-BI research, many survivors remain undiagnosed and many aspects remain unexplored. The experiences of being a mother with an IPV-related BI has been left untold. These gaps leave frontline workers with little guidance in supporting survivors who are specifically mothers. This research reports on a qualitative study exploring the lived experiences of mothering with an IPV-BI. The study uses a constructivist worldview and hermeneutic phenomenology to amplify mothers' voices and provide examples that challenge deficit models of parenting within IPV contexts. The findings highlight mothers’ strength, self perception, and mothering roles in the context of their IPV-BI. As mothers who have experienced IPV-BI are often judged and questioned, changing how we view their mothering capacity is vital. Findings highlight these demands of parenting, and how societal pressures of what it means to be a ‘good mother’ place pressure on many women. Especially with the added factor of a BI, survivors’ sense of self as a mother is impacted. Recommendations for policy and practice provide insight into these nuanced discussions.
Emily Sebben (Wed,) studied this question.