Individual Factors in Intimate Partner Violence Desistance: A Descriptive Patient Study of Eight Patients

Background: Intimate partner violence (IPV) desistance is rare, and the subjective experience of change in IPV relation needs to be clarified. In this study, we intended to study potential factors of IPV desistance from exploring their subjective experience of the feelings, interpretation of IPV, and interpretation of desistance. Methods: In this qualitative study, the researcher recruited and interviewed eight IPV offenders who achieved desistance for more than one year. The interview style was supportive and noninstructive, allowing a free elaboration of the individual's subjective feelings and reasoning of their violence and their desistance. The data breakdown, recombination, and condensation processes were used to code the information obtained from the source data. Results: Identified factors among eight IPV offenders were found to be related to desistance in the change process of individual levels. They included empathy (cognitive transformation), isolation of affect (emotional adaptation), and nonviolent life arrangement (behavioral transformation), combined with enhanced responsibility, and hope for the future. The affection and responsibility could develop only when the offenders found a way to link to the environment. Therefore, how the environment responded to the IPV desistance behavior was important. Conclusion: IVP relationships can be understood through a qualitative approach in the context of subjective experience in the desistance process. Further studies are needed to reconfirm those study findings.