Resilience and Empowerment in IPV Survivors' Recovery Processes. A Qualitative Study Across Anti‐Violence Services in Southern Italy

ABSTRACT

Resilience and empowerment are key processes for IPV survivors' recovery. However, they have seldom been integrated in community psychology research on IPV. To address this gap, this study applies the Transconceptual Model of Empowerment and Resilience to the Italian context in order to unveil how power dynamics operate across multiple ecological levels to shape resilience and empowerment pathways of IPV survivors. To this end, eighteen semi‐structured interviews with IPV survivors (2020–2021) were collected in six anti‐violence services in southern Italy. The transcripts were submitted to thematic analysis through the software ATLAS.ti. Findings show that recovery processes operated in cyclical patterns, with survivors moving between resilience‐focused adaptation and empowerment‐oriented transformation depending on multilevel conditions: (1) pre‐existing individual resources (education, employment experience, self‐efficacy) and intersectional vulnerabilities, particularly for immigrant women; (2) family networks and institutional legitimization of violence; (3) institutional flexibility in balancing safety protocols with survivor autonomy; and (4) alignment between institutional timeframes and individual readiness for change. Taken together, these findings suggest that anti‐violence policies and interventions require reflexive practices to recognize when institutional protocols may reproduce disempowering dynamics, alongside flexible, culturally responsive approaches aligned with survivors' diverse needs and readiness for change.