Iranian Women's Experiences of Spousal Abuse

The present study aimed at investigating the Iranian women's experiences of spousal abuse. The study followed a qualitative and phenomenological research design. 23 Iranian women age-ranged between 17 and 58 formed the sample population of the research. The seven-step Colaizzi procedure was applied for data analysis. The following 5 main themes were developed. The first main theme was deprivation; the second main theme was humiliation; the third main theme was forgotten love; the fourth main theme was assault; and the fifth main theme was patriarchy. All these five themes represented the women's life experiences of spousal abuse.