Lived Experiences of a Battered Woman in Jones, Isabela

Battery is one of the most common and least reported crimes in the world and it happens to women of every age, race, class, and nationality. This study explored how battered women viewed their experiences as victims of battery and their ways of coping with these experiences using a descriptive phenomenological approach. The participants of this study are those women who were victims of battery handed in Jones, Isabela. The researchers used purposive sampling in selecting the participants of the study following these criteria: (1) Being recommended by the personnel of the PNP Jones Station and being a resident of Jones, Isabela, (2) A woman who has been in an intimate relationship with her batterer (3) Cases that came to the knowledge of the Barangay, (4) Having the consent to serve as participants of the study. The researchers gathered the data through interview guide questions. The interview guide was translated into Ilocano, Tagalog, and English for the respondents to understand the questions. An interview guide lists topics or questions the interviewer hopes to cover. The researchers used Thematic analysis in analyzing data as it is a method for analyzing qualitative data that entails searching across a data set to identify, analyze, and repost patterns. Fifteen themes were identified, namely violence as a result of husband’s vices, emotional turmoil, feeling worthless, self-realization, hoping for a change in behavior through prayer, seeking support from families, focusing on household chores, seeking support from the authority, prioritizing children’s well-being, refusal to separate the husband for the sake of the children, resilience and endurance, good communication, patience and understanding, boundaries, and suggestion of the battered woman to the LGU to prevent commission of battery. Battered women prefer to stay home and endure their husbands’ battering of the need to protect children and families from social stigma.