A healing voice: Exploring the response of Protestant clergy women to women who are victims of intimate partner violence

The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the experiences and responses of Protestant clergy women representing mainline to conservative Protestant churches (Baptist, Anglican, Presbyterian and United Church) located in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia with women who are victims of intimate partner violence (IPV) and to determine how strong a role a clergy women's denomination plays in her response to victims of IPV. This study utilized techniques of thematic analysis taken from the toolkit of grounded theory to elucidate the perspectives and experiences of the eighteen clergy women who participated in face-to-face semi-structured interviews.;Several themes reflecting the activities and strategies that the clergy women undertook to support and protect women who are victims of abuse emerged from the participant's responses. Key themes included the perception of gender as a distinguishing feature of their ministry and the endorsement of the safety of the victim over the preservation of marriage.