Lived experiences of abused South Asian women during the childbearing year

Abstract

Purpose: This article describes the lived experiences of 20 abused South Asian women in the United States during the childbearing year.   Methods: The experiences of abuse are drawn from a convenience sample of 20 South Asian women. In-depth telephonic interviews were conducted with abused South Asian women recruited from five South Asian women’s organizations all across the United States. Results: The lived experiences of abused South Asian women during the childbearing year is described in the following themes (a) Type of abuse -Emotional abuse; physical abuse, sexual abuse, financial abuse, coercion and threats, intimidation, minimizing, denying, blame (b) Domestic servitude (c) Abandonment.                                                                                      Conclusions: South Asian women in the current study did not have any respite from abuse during the perinatal period and abuse continued during this vulnerable period of their lives.