Family aspects and social aspects of the mistreated Slovak women from practical social work point of view – qualitative verification facts Foto: Peter Senko (2018)

Introduction

The current state of the issue in the Slovak Republic points to a lack of awareness of the public, as well as victims of domestic violence, about the possibilities of social and legal assistance. In some cases, the possibilities of help are also unknown among experts who meet this target group in their professional practice (doctors, psychologists, teachers). From the above, it follows that the primary aim of social work at the level of primary and secondary prevention should be information about assistance to victims of domestic violence, taking into account the selected target group. In the context of social sciences and social work, domestic violence can be considered a serious socio-pathological phenomenon. It occurs throughout society regardless of economic level, social status, cultural and social background. It is a problem for the whole society, i.e. public policy, the church, non-governmental organizations, but also for each of us either directly or indirectly within the wider social environment.

From a foreign perspective, in connection with the issue of violence against women, we can talk about social assistance in the form of so-called "women's homes". This term is used primarily in English-speaking countries in the European Union. Current studies point to the fact that, on average, one third to one quarter of women in Europe are exposed to violence by men from their close social environment. As a rule, they are mostly partners/husbands, or also fathers or brothers. So-called women's shelters (abroad) and crisis centers (in our country) are in most cases the only possible solution to protect one's life and feel safe on the part of the victim (woman). The first women's homes have been operating in Europe since the seventies of the last century and are an important milestone in the development of the promotion of equality and respect for human rights in order to preserve the physical, psychological and emotional integrity of women as victims of domestic violence. (Appelt, Kaselitz, Logar, 2004).

Domestic violence is an important psychosocial phenomenon that occurs in countries all over the world. The forms of domestic violence vary, as does the target victim. The most common forms of violence are physical and psychological, but also social. The Office of Public Health of the Slovak Republic (2010) states, according to statistical data, that 95% of women are abused in partnerships. As a rule, they are passive, submissive women who are prone to clueless behavior, as well as depression and anxiety. The issue of domestic violence is generally dealt with by many experts from several scientific disciplines, such as psychology, social work, but also pedagogy and criminology. It is a multidisciplinary topic, given its multifactorial causality and wide-ranging consequences. Specifically, issues in intimate relationships are dealt with, for example, by Buriánek (2013); Budinová (2012); Martínková, Slavětínsky and Vlacha (2014); García-Moreno et al. (2013); Hronová et al. (2011); Hrušková, Kozlová and Francová (2013); Netík and Netíková (2010); Nováková (2010); Tollefson et al. (2009); Vavroňová et al. (2013) and many others.

The summarization of the characteristic features of the household confirms that within the framework of relationships in a partner relationship there is a demonstration of power on the part of one partner. This undesirable phenomenon has a cyclical and escalating nature and is long-term adverse. The forms of violence are diverse (physical, psychological, social). Problems of this type are latent and hidden by the victim for fear of more violence. Domestic violence is a serious socio-pathological phenomenon that has physical and psychosocial consequences for the individual who is the victim, as well as the victim's loved ones. Domestic violence, or violence in intimate relationships, usually takes place in the home environment. Martinková, Slavětínsky and Vlacha (2014) draw attention to the devastating impact of this type of violence, given that it occurs in the circle of the closest people, who should be a source of security, trust and safety.

"Domestic violence is fueled by several factors, where the archaic way of solving social problems conditioned by the phylogenetic and ontogenetic transfer of genetic and historical information has a significant impact." (Havrlentová, 2017, p. 63).

Violence against women, or also partner violence, or violence in intimate partner relationships, is one of the sociopathological phenomena of today's society. This phenomenon is taken up by several scientific fields, taking into account the nature of the help needed, whether it is psychological, legal or social help. In the Slovak and Czech Republics, this issue is included in the issue of "domestic violence" in general, where general definitions of domestic violence are also used.

"Defining domestic violence is very difficult. In general, it can be said that it is a socio-pathological phenomenon "sui generis". Why can domestic violence be described as such a phenomenon? This is because domestic violence is a deviation and a special socio-pathological phenomenon of the family." (Polák, 2017, p. 180).

Ondicová (2017, p. 30) states that "domestic violence is an important social phenomenon spread all over the world. We can classify it in the category of so-called "new forms of criminal violence", which we must fully agree with.

As part of the description of the current state of domestic violence, it is necessary to emphasize primarily psychological violence in partner relationships, because in most cases it has a latent form. "Psychological violence itself is compared to physical violence, which is the most frequently discussed among all forms of domestic violence by the lay and professional public, and is also specific in that there may not be visible signs of violence and abuse on the affected individual. In this context, psychological abuse is more difficult to detect. Victims themselves are often afraid to confess, whether they are afraid of the aggressor's subsequent behavior, or because of a misunderstanding of the environment or fears experts, experiencing shame or complicity, but often also situations occur when victims do not know who to turn to for help." (Habánik, Vavruš, 2017, p. 345).

There are several typologies of intimate partner violence. The following typology of partner violence is most often mentioned (according to Kelly, Johnson, 2008; Čírtková, 2017):

  • situational couple violence, so-called - situational couple violence / common couple violence - is one of the most widespread forms of violence in partner relationships (in this type of partner violence, power and control is not exercised, but is accompanied by various conflict situations),
  • coercive controlling violence / intimate terrorism - this is the most serious form of partner violence, because it is based on physical, psychological and emotional violence,
  • mutual violent control - in this type, partners strive for power and control over the other and use various forms of violence to do so,
  • separation instigated violence - this is violence that is caused by the collapse and termination of a relationship, while no type of violence was present before this act,
  • violent resistance - violent resistance - is the victim's reaction to abuse when he uses a certain type of violence, which is a form of self-defense.

In our case, we focused on the population of women who had a direct and long-term experience of domestic violence perpetrated by their partner/spouse. The research problem is the incidence, frequency and family context of women who have had a direct and long-term experience of domestic violence by their partner/spouse. The research problem is covered by several sub-areas, namely:

  • the share of family factors and peculiarities of the original family with regard to the experience of mistreatment of women in the later period in the context of the completeness of the original family, the personality and educational characteristics of the parents, the occurrence of domestic violence in the original family, independence from the original family,
  • analysis of the causes, socio-psychological symptomatology and consequences of social isolation of women experiencing long-term violence by their partner/spouse.

Methods

When carrying out a qualitative content analysis, we start from the assumption of Ritomský and Bachraté (2008, p. 72), who state that 'each person interprets things differently based on whether it seems useful to compare them to the content of this or that past experience. Based on these conceptualizations, a person plans interactions with given things, people, or situations in the future. If a person's activities and projects do not work in an adaptive way, a person changes his interpretations - he finds new dimensions of similarities and predictions. From this point of view, the "properties of the thing" become dynamic, fluid, full of expectations and almost limitless in their possible variety. However, each person is limited by the need to organize their experience or understand its meaning in a way that helps them to adapt".

With a qualitative research strategy, we aimed to verify other related variables in connection with the established research questions. The variables we aimed to investigate were family aspects and social aspects, the dominant variable of which was social isolation. Based on the theory and practice of the incidence of domestic violence against women, the issue of social isolation appears to us to be highly topical and not at all processed, respectively, in the Slovak and Czech Republics. We focus on the causes, socio-psychological symptoms and consequences of social isolation, which is an interesting social phenomenon present in all selected participants who voluntarily took part in our research. We set several research goals.

The main goal of researching family aspects: "To find connections between the factors and characteristics of the original family and its members and the experience of abuse of women in the later period." Other established research objectives focused on family aspects are as follows:

  • find out from which family abused women come from, from the point of view of completeness and incompleteness (family aspects),
  • find out the personality and educational characteristics of the father of abused women (family aspects),
  • to find out the personality and educational characteristics of the mother of abused women (family aspects),
  • to find out whether there was domestic violence in the original family of the abused women by the father or the mother, respectively the caregivers (family aspects),
  • find out at what age abused women became independent from their original family (family aspects),
  • find out the reason for independence from the original (family aspects).

The main goal of researching social aspects: "To find connections between the causes, socio-psychological symptomatology and consequences of experiencing social isolation of abused women." Other established research objectives focused on social aspects are as follows:

  • find out what abused women think about the behavior of the abusive intimate partner (social aspects),
  • to find out whether abused women felt social isolation during the period when they lived with an abusive intimate partner (social aspects),
  • find out how social isolation manifested itself during the period when they were in a relationship with an abusive intimate partner (social aspects),
  • find out whether they feel social isolation even after leaving the abusive intimate partner (social aspects),
  • find out the causes of feeling social isolation from the point of view of abused women (social aspects),
  • to find out the manifestations of social isolation after the abused woman leaves the abusive intimate partner (social aspects),
  • find out the consequences of social isolation after breaking up and leaving an abusive intimate partner/spouse (social aspects),
  • to find out what other strategies abused women plan to take in order to cope with social isolation and integrate into society without obvious abnormalities as a result of domestic violence that was perpetrated on them (social aspects).

The following research questions focused on family and social aspects were determined:

  1. Was the original family in which the abused women grew up complete? (family aspects),
  2. What personality traits are found in fathers and mothers of abused women? (family aspects),
  3. What educational styles and approaches did parents use in raising abused women? (family aspects),
  4. Do abused women experience domestic violence in the original family in which they grew up? (family aspects),
  5. Did abused women become independent from their original family at a young age? - age belonging to the development period "young or early adulthood" (family aspects),
  6. What were the most common reasons for the independence of abused women from their original family? (family aspects),
  7. What do abused women think about the unwanted behavior of their intimate partner (ex-partner) or husband (ex-husband)? (social aspects),
  8. Do abused women feel social isolation during the period when they are abused by their partner/husband? (social aspects),
  9. What do abused women consider to be the cause of social isolation? (social aspects),
  10. How was social isolation manifested during the period when abused women with an abusive intimate partner were in a partnership or marriage? (social aspects),
  11. What consequences of social isolation do abused women feel after leaving an abusive partner/husband? (social aspects),
  12. What strategies and plans do abused women have in order to deal with the feeling of social isolation and gradually integrate into social life? (social aspects).

The research sample consisted of 20 participants, specifically abused women aged 23 to 65, who were clients of crisis centers in the Bratislava region. The research sample was selected by deliberate selection, based on which we determined the specifics of the selection, which were the age of more than 20 years and less than 50 years, and the female participants had to be clients of selected crisis centers intended for abused women, children and victims of domestic violence, and the participants had to want to participate in the research voluntarily with an emphasis on the anonymity of their provided personal data and information. The research was carried out at the turn of 2017 to 2018.

The research was carried out in six crisis centers with the help of social workers, as well as psychologists - counselors and directors/medics who work in them. We do not provide detailed information about crisis centers, including their headquarters and detailed specifications, based on the recommendations of professional employees of these centers, who also emphasized the need for anonymity.

We carried out the research using the method of document analysis and study (case studies) and the interview method (semi-structured interview). The case reports that we used for qualitative analysis were prepared by social workers who worked actively and long-term with clients (abused women). We synthesized and analyzed the data from the case reports. The interview we set up was semi-structured and consisted of open and closed questions. The total number of interview questions was 15. We were interested in the family and social aspects of abused women. The most dominant variable in this type of research was social isolation in the sense of its cause, course and consequences.

As part of the qualitatively obtained data (family and social aspects), we used the so-called "repertoire grid" method (Ritomský, Bachratý, 2008), which is applicable in all medical, psychological and social sciences. In this case, the identification of elements, triads of elements, poles of similarity and contrast of constructs, division of poles of constructs into positive and negative, dichotomy of triads, connection of constructs and elements and the like are used as techniques of monographic procedures.

When analyzing qualitative data, in some cases we also used other methods and techniques, for example, the techniques described by Miovský (2010), the coding technique and the text coloring technique. When applying these methods, the text (answers of the participants) is processed in such a way that units covering individual topics are marked. Various groups of selected topics are also coded through the so-called "clustering method". We created the research topics that were the object of our interest by induction and hierarchization of the obtained qualitative data. Based on the above procedure, we identified relationships between individual variables.

In the following text, we present the results of qualitative content analyzes of case studies, where we proceeded from the specific to the general. We evaluated the common and different characteristics of abused women in general, with an emphasis on family and social aspects.

Common features of abused women from the point of view of medical history are chronic diseases leading to disability and unemployment. Differences were found in the case of types of chronic diseases. The selected participants had various chronic diseases, namely oncological diseases, hypertension, psychological problems (depression and anxiety), diabetes, bronchial asthma, urological problems, hypertension, gastrointestinal diseases, chronic insomnia, cardiac arrhythmia and others.

The common features of abused women from the point of view of their school anamnesis are that the abused women have a higher education than basic. The most frequently occurring type of completed study is university, which is an interesting finding. However, to the same extent, there was also education completed with a certificate and a matriculation exam, which we can consider as different characteristics.

The common characteristics of abused women from the point of view of personal and family anamnesis are growing up in a complete family, a problem-free childhood, divorce of parents at a later stage, marriage in the period of young adulthood, childbearing in the period of young adulthood, joint household with a problematic partner/spouse, alcoholism in the family, financial problems in the family, extroverted personality traits before the occurrence of partner problems. We can consider the type of violence that occurred in the families of the selected participants, the personality traits of problematic partners/husbands, problems with socialization during the marriage, the occurrence of problems in childhood and the occurrence of abuse of joint children as different characteristics.

Common features of abused women from the point of view of social anamnesis are sufficiently established social ties and social support and the occurrence of social isolation as a result of the problematic behavior of the partner. As a different sign, we could consider the type of partner problems, or problems that resulted in violent behavior on the part of the partner/spouse, as well as the accompanying socio-pathological phenomena occurring in the family, apart from alcoholism and domestic violence, which are common features.

Through the content analysis of the anamnestic data of the selected cases of abused women, we found that:

  • abused women in most cases suffer from chronic diseases, which usually lead to disability, unemployment, financial problems in the family and social isolation,
  • abused women have a higher education than basic, while the most common is completed university education,
  • abused women grow up in complete families that appear to be problem-free during their childhood,
  • in most cases, the parents of abused women divorce during their older school years or adolescence,
  • abused women find problem partners most often in the period of adolescence to young adulthood,
  • abused women in most cases form a joint household with a problematic partner/spouse at a very young age (just after reaching adulthood),
  • abused women marry problematic partners at a very young age,
  • abused women have children with a problematic partner at a very young age,
  • abused women easily establish social ties and maintain them, but in most cases they are formed in the family,
  • in the families of abused women, there are several socio-pathological phenomena, especially, in addition to violence, the alcoholism of the problematic partner/husband.

The stated findings could be generalized in the context of family and social aspects related to abused women. The findings can also be perceived as risk factors for the emergence of problems in the partner / marital relationship in the context of the occurrence of domestic violence in the family.

Another analysis that we carried out as part of the research was the analysis of the answers to the questions in the interview. Through the content analysis of the answers to the interview questions from the perspective of the family and social aspects of abused women, we found out in the context of complex findings that:

  • the original family of abused women is complete,
  • abused women evaluated their fathers as personalities with both positive and negative qualities, which indicates that they have a neutral relationship with them (neither positive nor negative),
  • abused women evaluate their mothers as personalities with positive qualities, which indicates that they have a positive relationship with them,
  • abused women evaluate upbringing by the father positively and to the same extent negatively,
  • abused women rate their mother's upbringing as positive and adequate,
  • abused women have no experience of domestic violence in the family, 1/5 of abused women from our research sample had experience of domestic violence,
  • abused women became independent from their original family at a young age (around the age of 20),
  • the most common reasons for independence from the original family were pregnancy and partnership,
  • abused women evaluate the behavior of abusive partners/husbands in general as sadistic, depressing, hurtful, frightening, despotic, traumatizing, rude, negativist, reprimanding, problematic, jealous and tyrannical, while almost 1/3 of abused women from our research sample justify the behavior of the abusive partner in some way and feel guilty, whereby the negative behavior of the partner/spouse is perceived as justified,
  • abused women feel social isolation during the period when they are abused by their partner/husband,
  • the social isolation of abused women when they are in a relationship with an abusive partner/spouse manifests itself primarily in physical social isolation, during which they must remain in the home environment; psychological isolation, in which they do not have the opportunity to socialize (friends, acquaintances, family); they are denied the opportunity to study and work; they are subject to the partner's control strategies; they do not have access to finance,
  • abused women consider the cause of social isolation primarily the efforts of the abusive partner/husband to physically and psychologically eliminate them, hatred for love, purposeful causing of misfortune, infidelity, jealousy, efforts to achieve dependence of abused women on their partners/husbands, attempted divorce,
  • abused women no longer feel social isolation after leaving an abusive partner / husband, - in the event that abused women feel social isolation even after leaving an abusive partner / husband, it manifests itself in various ways, such as intense fear without justification, inability to work and impaired social communication and establishing social ties,
  • abused women do not experience social isolation after leaving the abusive partner/spouse, and therefore do not experience any other consequences of this social isolation after breaking up with the abusive partner/spouse,
  • in the event that women experience some consequences of social isolation after leaving an abusive partner/husband, they have the form of symptoms associated with post-traumatic stress and post-traumatic stress disorder,
  • abused women do not need to plan strategies for coping with social isolation, because they managed this burdensome situation right after breaking up with the abusive partner/spouse, or after leaving the abusive partner/spouse,
  • 1/5 of abused women who felt some consequences of social isolation even after leaving the abusive partner/husband use various strategies and plans in order to deal with the feeling of social isolation and gradually integrate into social life, namely planning to seek psychological help, move in with a family for a sense of security, get a job and find suitable housing.

The analysis of the case studies provided us with the answers to research questions 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 8 and 9. The analysis of the answers to the interview questions provided us with the answers to all the set research questions. The answers to all set research questions are presented in the following text.

Research Question 1: Was the original family in which the abused women grew up complete? (family aspects). The results of the analysis of the answers to the questions in the interview showed that the abused women come from a complete family. We can say that abused women mostly come from single-parent families, which is a positive finding, since the single-parent family is generally perceived as a possible risk factor for behavioral, psychological and social problems in adulthood.

Research question 2: What personality traits are found in fathers and mothers of abused women? (family aspects). The occurrence of pathological features in case studies was noted only in isolated cases. In general, however, we can say that fathers of abused women do not have significantly pathological personality traits that lead to problematic and undesirable behavior. The results of the analysis of the answers to the questions in the interview showed that the abused women have neither a positive nor a negative relationship with their father, considering that they rated their fathers on average almost the same number as personalities with positive and the same as personalities with negative qualities. From the point of view of the analysis of the answers to the questions in the interview, they also found that abused women have mothers with positive qualities, which is a positive finding.

Research question 3: What educational styles and approaches did parents use in raising abused women? (family aspects). The results of the analysis of the answers to the questions in the interview showed that the abused women evaluate the upbringing by the father neither positively nor negatively, considering that the answers of the participants were almost equally classified as positive as well as negative upbringing. From the point of view of the analysis of mother's upbringing, we can say that abused women evaluate mothers' upbringing as adequate, good and loving.

Research question 4: Do abused women experience domestic violence in the original family in which they grew up? (family aspects). The experience of domestic violence in the family of origin occurred only rarely, namely in two case studies out of ten. The results of the analysis of the answers to the questions in the interview showed that abused women have no experience of domestic violence in the family. Only 4 participants out of a total of 20 had experience with domestic violence.

Research question 5: Did abused women become independent from their family of origin at a young age? - age belonging to the development period "young, respectively early adulthood" (family aspects). Analysis of case studies confirmed that abused women became independent from their original family during young adulthood, in nine cases out of ten. The results of the analysis of the answers to the questions in the interview showed that abused women leave their families at a very young age, around the age of 20.

Research question 6: What were the most common reasons for the independence of abused women from their original family? (family aspects). The results of the analysis of the answers to the questions in the interview showed that the most common reasons for the independence of abused women are pregnancy and partnership.

Research question 7: What do abused women think about the unwanted behavior of their intimate partner (ex-partner) or husband (ex-husband)? (social aspects). Analysis of case studies confirmed that abused women consider their partner's behavior unacceptable and undesirable. In general, it can be said that abused women perceive the behavior of abusive partners/husbands as a big problem that prevents them from socializing, working and leading a normal life without social, financial, family and health problems. The results of the analysis of the answers to the questions in the interview showed that abused women evaluate the behavior of tyrannizing partners / in general as negative in the sense of traumatizing and aggressive expressions.

Research question 8: Do abused women experience social isolation during the period when they are abused by their partner/husband? (social aspects). The analysis of case studies confirmed this fact in two cases out of ten, while the results may be distorted by the lack of information about this social phenomenon related to the occurrence of domestic violence. The results of the analysis of the answers to the questions in the interview showed that abused women who lived or live with a tyrannizing partner/spouse experience social isolation. Furthermore, we can also claim that abused women experience serious social isolation in the form of physical isolation, when they have to remain in most cases only in their home, they are prevented from studying and working, they are subject to the control of their partner/husband, they do not have access to finances and they also have limited physical and psychological contacts in the form of contacts on social networks.

Research question 9: What do abused women consider to be the cause of social isolation? (social aspects). The case study analyzes did not precisely define the answer to this stated research question, but in general, we could consider the undesirable partner's behavior, which was aimed at preventing the creation and maintenance of social ties, as the reasons given in them. The results of the analysis of the answers to the questions in the interview showed that abused women who felt or feel social isolation as a result of the behavior of their partner (ex-partner) / husband (ex-husband), in most cases consider the causes of this behavior to be negative phenomena in the sense of the desire for psychological and physical liquidation on the part of the partner, hatred for love, infidelity, jealousy and the like. Relatively positive reasons were also recorded, in the form of feeling great love from the partner, psychological injury of the partner, a strong bond and others.

Research question 10: How was social isolation manifested during the period when women were abused with an abusive intimate partner in a partnership or marriage? (social aspects). The results of the analysis of the answers to the questions in the interview showed that abused women in most cases feel social isolation during the period when they are in a partnership or marriage with an abusive intimate partner. Social isolation manifests itself in the majority of women as a serious limitation of personal freedom.

Research question 11: What consequences of social isolation do abused women experience after leaving an abusive partner/husband? (social aspects). The results of the analysis of the answers to the questions in the interview showed that abused women do not feel social isolation after leaving the abusive partner (ex-partner) or husband (ex-husband). If they constantly feel social isolation, it is the result of contact with their loved ones and friends by abusive partners (ex-partners) or husbands (ex-husbands), which causes them discomfort and the need to hide and conceal. In some cases, symptoms associated with post-traumatic stress disorder were recorded, namely in 1/5 of abused women.

Research question 12: What strategies and plans do abused women have in order to cope with the feeling of social isolation and gradually integrate into social life? (social aspects). The results of the analysis of the answers to the questions in the interview showed that abused women do not need to plan strategies for coping with social isolation, given that they no longer experience any serious symptoms after a separation or divorce from an abusive partner (husband). Strategies for coping with this stressful situation (consequences of social isolation) were planned for 1/5 of the participants and were, for example, seeking psychological help, moving in with a family, getting a job and finding suitable housing, looking for new friendships and thereby overcoming feelings of loneliness and isolation.

Discussion

In the event that we aim to compare our results with the results of other studies, it is necessary to emphasize the fact mentioned by Mencerová (2017) that there are three sources for obtaining relevant information about domestic violence - statistics, research results and clinical findings (studies made by psychiatrists, psychologists, counselors). From our point of view, the results of researches that investigated the same or similar contexts and variables as it was in our case are important. In this case, however, it is also necessary to state that the results of the research are variable and some outputs are not comparable with ours because we carried out research that was characterized by certain innovations in the sense that the variables we chose were not chosen within these researches, which offers us the possibility of describing other research contexts. We connect the mentioned problem primarily with the research presented in this research article. We found only one study that was primarily focused on the social isolation of women who were or are victims of partner/spousal violence, namely the study by Netto et al. (2017).

The authors of the study Netto et al. (2017) investigated the hypothesis that isolation is a form of violence in which an intimate partner tries to weaken a woman's support network, isolate her from social interactions, which leads to a complete ban on any relationship with family or friends. This statement was also confirmed in our case. In the aforementioned study, the causes of social isolation were also analyzed using a qualitative research strategy. 12 women from a specialized assistance center for women in Rio de Janeiro - Brazil participated in the research. An interview was used in the same way as in our case. The results showed that in connection with problems with social isolation as a result of the violent behavior of an intimate partner, women had a deficit in meeting their needs, especially social ones, which is associated with certain symptoms in various areas of personality. In the same way, this study also demonstrated that the causes of the isolation of abused women are connected with unwanted, even tyrannical and threatening behavior of the partner/husband, which leads to the avoidance of contact with the social environment.

A negative finding is, as in our case, that women experiencing domestic violence seek professional help only when the situation seems serious, unsolvable, or life-threatening. Until this period, problems in the partner union associated with violence are tried to be trivialized and not solved. Problems associated with social isolation as a result of violence against women from the partner's/husband's point of view will fade away by avoiding contact with this partner, or by a life change that is associated with a new social and family background.

Conclusion

In conclusion, we would like to point out the limits of the conducted research. The limit of the research is the possible distortion of the answers of the participants in qualitative interview research, when the answers could be inauthentic in a certain way due to the blocking of certain healthy psychological functions as a result of experienced trauma and serious stressful events or changes, but this does not change the fact that their informative value can be confirmed thanks to the interconnectedness and continuity of the relationships between the variables.

As part of the research, the participants were instructed about the generality of the research results, about the strictly observed anonymity of their statements, as well as about the protection of their personal or other personal data and characteristics, which could, on the other hand, be encouraging and stimulating for telling the truth or evaluating the situation retrospectively and prospectively. However, in some cases we noticed that the participant's statement was incoherent and superficial, while we respected the participant's decision not to answer the question with an extensive statement and did not ask additional questions. We also encountered expressions of sadness and anxiety, which were very difficult to handle from the researcher's point of view, because they had an impact on the intensity of the voice, or on the statement itself and the length of the answers to the questions asked. In one case, it was also obvious that the participant was very reluctant to testify for various reasons, but over time we overturned this by showing empathy, congruence, acceptance and respect.

Author: PhDr. Andrea Hurbanová The author is a doctoral student at the University of Health and Social Work in St. Elizabeth in Bratislava List of references

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