A qualitative study of lived experiences of solo-living women in post-divorce life

During recent decades, the number of solo-living divorced women in Sanandaj has been growing. It is very important to describe women's experiences, interpretation, and understanding of loneliness and the phenomenal world, and to answer how the "world of loneliness" is present in the lived experience of a lonely divorced woman. The methodology of the current research is qualitative and for this purpose, 23 divorced solo-living women in Sanandaj city were interviewed with the interpretive phenomenological approach. Van Manen's six-step method was used to analyze the data. The findings obtained from the lived experience of solo-living women show the understanding of living alone as an extension of the scope of more options and freedoms, the absence of a double burden on the shoulders of parents, and the protection of children. For this reason, a different feeling towards living alone after divorce has been formed among participating women. For some women, the feeling of living alone is considered as an unpleasant experience, and for another group, as a liberating metaphor. The understanding and interpretation of solitary women from the phenomenal world implies self-support and developing resilience against problems, transformation in female behaviors and self-image, reinterpretation of life in the world and self-control, and restraint of sexual need. Living alone has left different effects and consequences on women's lives, which are categorized under four general themes: "individual growth", "personal independence", "social rejection" and "vacuum of support of children". Based on the semantic constructions of the present study, it shows that women living alone are experiencing a difficult life in the world with their own problems, which requires the support of society in an all-round way