An examination of the problems experienced by women during and after divorce and their coping methods

The purpose of this study is to determine the divorce causes of divorced women and the problems they experience during and after the divorce period and their coping methods with these problems. Twenty-eight divorced women participated in the study. The universe of the study consists of divorced women living in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC). In this study, criteria-based sampling, which is a purposive sampling method, was used in the determination of the study group. This research was conducted with qualitative data collection technique, and a semi-structured interview form which was developed by the researchers was used as a data collection tool. The interview form which was developed as a data collection tool was given its final version based on expert opinions. The collected data were analysed by means of content analysis. As a result of the analysis of the data, the most important causes for divorce mentioned by women appeared as differences of opinion, lack of interest and financial irresponsibility, whereas the least mentioned causes are age differences and jealousy. The leading problems experienced during the divorce process are psychological breakdown, external interventions and sharing of the property, whereas the least emphasised problems are the failure of the family to give support and failure to divorce due to living in different countries. The most important problems after divorce were listed as the negative viewpoint of the society towards a divorced woman, financial problems and psychological breakdown, whereas the least experienced problems are future anxiety and loneliness. The leading coping with problems method appeared as a social support from family and friends, and the least mentioned method was gaining financial strength. In terms of improvement of responsibility and value perceptions, it is recommended that studies are conducted in the fields of guidance and psychological counselling services and family counselling. * ADDRESS FOR CORRESPONDENCE: Fatma Burcin Hocaoglu, International Cyprus University, Faculty of Education, Department of Education Sciences, Nicosia, Cyprus. E-mail address: burcinhocaoglu@yahoo.com New Trends and Issues Proceedings on Humanities and Social Sciences Volume 7, Issue 3, (2020) 61-74 Hocaoglu, F. B. & Yalcinkaya, M. (2020).An examination of the problems experienced by women during and after divorce and their coping methods. New Trends and Issues Proceedings on Humanities and Social Sciences. 7(3), pp 102-115. 62