Intimate Partner Violence, Motherhood, and Mental Health: Examining the Impact of IPV on Mothers’ Resilience and Mental Health in Informal Settlements of Nairobi, Kenya

Women living in informal settlements in Kenya experience some of the highest rates of intimate partner violence (IPV). Mothers are particularly vulnerable, as parenting stress can amplify the impact of IPV on their caregiving responsibilities and mental health. However, little is known about how IPV affects mothers’ mental health and caregiving capacity in informal settlements. This study explores the unique challenges and resilience strategies of mothers affected by IPV in two of the largest informal settlements in Nairobi, Kenya. 36 survivors of IPV, 30 clinic staff, and 24 community health promoters participated in in-depth, semi-structured interviews or focus group discussions as part of a study to adapt a low-cost IPV and mental health response intervention. With the consent of participants, all interviews were audio recorded, transcribed, and translated into English from Swahili. Using Ungar’s social ecology of resilience theory (2012), we identified challenging factors that influence mothers’ capacity for resilience across personal, relational, structural, and cultural levels: hardships of motherhood, mental health symptoms, lack of paternal support, lack of economic opportunities, lack of safe houses, traditional gender roles and responsibilities of women. Amidst the wide range of challenges created by abuse and compounding factors at all levels of the ecology, findings reveal how women turn to trusted friends and draw on their maternal identity as a source of motivation to endure and overcome adversity. These findings underscore the importance of developing a nuanced understanding of how IPV and motherhood jointly impact women’s mental health–recognizing how prioritizing their mothering role leaves little space for women to focus on their safety and well-being. There is a critical need for practitioners, researchers, and policymakers to address the social-ecological barriers that IPV-affected mothers face to enable them to prioritize their safety while caring for their children.