Lived Experiences of Divorced Women: Psychosocial Effects in Robe Town Oromia, South Eastern, Ethiopia
Abstract Divorce is the legal dissolution of a socially and legally recognized marital relationship that alters the obligations and privileges of the two persons involved. Hence, the main objective of this study was to assess the lived experience of divorced women in Bale Robe town. Purposive sampling was used to select sampling Kebeles since all Kebeles are assuming to be having a similar attribute in the case of divorce experience. The target populations were selected purposively and snowballing sampling techniques. To get the relevant data for this study the data has employed a qualitative, in-depth interview method with the combination of focused group discussion. The researcher used 12 divorced women for an in-depth interview, six divorced women for focused group discussion and six key informants for an in-depth interview. Thematic qualitative analysis technique has been employed by applying a rigorous data analysis procedure. As the result indicated Divorced women experience different psychological problems like anger, grief, feeling of lonely, regret and husband denying biological child. Also, the study revealed that divorce exposed them to social, familial, financial and emotional challenges. Therefore, government, non-governmental organization and social workers should play an important role in family counseling services, increasing public awareness about the social environment and marriage stability.