“I need to change something before I drown”: Experiences Related to Turning Points in Leaving Abusive Relationships among Mothers in Ontario, Canada

Purpose: Intimate partner violence (IPV) – a global, pervasive, and significant public health concern – is a form of gender-based violence. Approximately one third of women in Canada experience IPV. With well-established negative health and psychosocial impacts of violence on mothers and their children, mothers’ decision to leave an abusive relationship is an important area of study. It has been suggested that there are ‘turning points’, events that initiate or precede the leaving process,in motherhood which are influenced by an awakened maternal identity as well as variable individual and sociocultural factors. Given that these factors are not well understood in the Canadian context, this study aimed to address the question, “How do Ontario mothers who have experienced IPV describe turning points”? Methods: Nested within a larger, mixed-methods study, this post-hoc case study was grounded in Secco et al.’s (2016) understanding of awakened maternal identity and involved in-depth interviews with five mothers. Results: Three distinct but interrelated themes emerged, including the mental shifts stemming from increased risk to the child(ren), planning to leave and prioritizing what is needed to ensure the safety of the child(ren), and the decision to leave which was made when mothers perceived the relationship to be over either as a result of culmination of events or a singular event that endangered the child(ren). Conclusion: Mothers are faced with complex and challenging decisions around leaving abusive relationships, but ultimately are driven by doing what was best for their children. The findings from this study add to a small, but important body of knowledge around the experiences of mothers facing IPV in Ontario, Canada.