Aging in the Shadow of Violence: A Phenomenological Conceptual Framework for Understanding Elderly Women Who Experienced Lifelong IPV

This article suggests a heuristic framework for understanding elderly women’s “lived experience” of lifelong intimate partner violence (IPV). This framework is based on the phenomenological qualitative studies of 31 women, aged 60–83, using a semistructured interview guide. From the results, a matrix emerged built on two axes. The first axis consists of three phenomenological dimensions: suffering, a “ticking clock,” and life wisdom. The second axis consists of four themes that emerged from the content analysis: loneliness, regret, being in a state of waiting, and being a living monument to perpetual victimhood. The practical implications of these phenomenological findings are then discussed.