Divorce means for divorced person perspective: A phenomenological qualitative study

The mental meaning is the most fundamental part of any phenomenon. Meaning that a divorced person has been made for divorce is considered as an important dimension in the structure of this phenomenon. The purpose of this study is to study divorce meaning from divorced people’s perspective and compare divorced men and women’s views in the field. The qualitative research methods and phenomenological method was used to conduct research. The sample size included 25 participants selected by a purposive sampling strategy and the principal criteria sampling. Semi-structured interviews contributed to collect data analyzed by thematic analysis. The results included two themes: semantic perception of divorce and dimension meanings of divorce that each included three sub-themes, the first consisted of liberating sense of divorce, and divorce as the last way and negative meaning of divorce; and the latter included social, personal and gender divorce. Men and women have the same experience in the context of a divorce, but there are differences in how they experience. With regard to the consequences of divorce for women, they interpret this phenomenon more negatively. The result showed that the divorce is a poly semantic and multidimensional phenomenon affected by a person's gender, one’s social and cultural conditions.