A qualitative assessment of strategies affecting adaptability in the post-divorce adaptation process: knowledge based on the experience of divorced women

For many women, divorce means coping with extreme stress and emotional instability. To meet the challenges after divorce, divorced women need to be more resilient using different strategies. Almost all studies conducted in Iran with the subject of life after divorce have dealt with the process of adaptation and adaptation has been less considered as the gateway to adaptation.

The aim of this study was to discover effective strategies in the process of adaptation during post-divorce adjustment in divorced women.

This research was conducted with a qualitative approach and contextual theory method in 2020 and 2021 in Tehran. The population or field studied in this study included all divorced women in Tehran in 2020 who have passed at least 3 years of legal divorce (who have the opportunity and experience to face the challenges of life after divorce and the possibility of entering the process of adaptation after divorce. The study sample was saturated by selecting 12 divorced women using snowball sampling. Semi-structured interviews were used to collect data. The interviews were analyzed using the systematic method of Corbin and Strauss.

Analysis of participants' experiences leads to the identification of 7 main categories of building a new identity, interacting with divorce, managing post-divorce challenges, engaging in social activities (environmental influences), buffer (protective factors), spiritual-religious confrontations and Coping with factors out of control.

The results showed that divorced women 's use of internal and external factors can help to adapt to life after divorce and put them on the path of adjustment. Understanding knowledge based on divorced women's experience of post-divorce consequences and how to adapt to it, as presented in the present study, can help divorced women, counselors and therapists involved in this area to make gender-based decisions and interventions