Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 1998. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves [208]-225).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Virginia Commonwealth University, 2006. / Prepared for: School of Nursing. Bibliography: leaves 112-122. Also available online via the Internet.

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This project attempted to understand better the relationship between social support and women's commitment to an abusive relationship for the purpose of informing social support interventions. This study was not an intervention; instead, it sought to examine the processes linking receipt of helpful forms of social support from naturally occurring sources with women's commitment and stay/leave decisions. Specifically, it was hypothesized that relationship satisfaction and quality alternatives would mediate the relationship between received social support types (e.g., nondirective support, positive social exchange, tangible assistance, and directive guidance) and battered women's feelings of commitment. Fifty-one battered women living in domestic violence shelters participated in the present study. Women completed the Revised Conflict Tactics Scale (CTS-2), Inventory of Socially Supportive Behaviors (ISSB), and Investment Model Scale (IMS) along with other measures designed for this study. Results showed that battered women who received more resources and services (i.e., tangible assistance) endorsed lesser commitment to their abusive relationships; however, other dimensions of social support such as showing concern, giving advice, and spending time in recreational activities were unrelated to commitment. Further, neither relationship satisfaction nor quality alternatives mediated the relationship between support and commitment; however, relationship satisfaction and quality alternatives demonstrated expected relationships with women's commitment. Potential design limitations as well as clinical and research implications are discussed. / Ph. D.

Kvinnomisshandel är idag ett komplicerat och tabubelagt folkhälsoproblem. 38 % av kvinnor runt om i världen har någon gång blivit utsatta för misshandel i en nära relation. Syftet med studien var att beskriva sjuksköterskors upplevelser av att möta kvinnor utsatta för misshandel av män i en nära relation. Studien genomfördes som en litteraturstudie där tio kvalitativa artiklar och en artikel med mixad metod användes i resultatet. Resultatet presenteras i fyra kategorier: Kvinnomisshandel – ett tabubelagt ämne bland vårdpersonal, Att axla sin professionella roll i mötet med misshandlade kvinnor, Kunskapens betydelse för omvårdnad och Organisationens påverkan på omvårdnad. Resultatet visade att sjuksköterskor upplevde en saknad av relevant utbildning i hur och när frågan om misshandel skulle komma på tal för att inte förolämpa och stöta bort kvinnorna. Sjuksköterskorna påpekade även att behovet av ett utökat samarbete med andra professioner skulle kunna vara till hjälp vid möten med kvinnor utsatta för misshandel i en nära relation. Det påpekades att sjuksköterskorna upplevde det som svårt att axla sin professionella roll och ge kvinnorna den hjälpen de behövde få. Inom sjukvården har sjuksköterskorna en viktig och framträdande roll i att hjälpa kvinnor utsatta för misshandel i en nära relation. / The dilemma of battered women is today a complex and taboo public health problem, 38 % of women around the world has at some point been exposed to intimate partner violence. The aim was to describe nurses experiences of encounter women exposed to intimate partner violence by men. The study was conducted as a literature study where ten qualitative scientific articles and one mixed method scientific article were selected. The result culminated in four categories: Battered women – a taboo subject among health care workers, Shouldering the professional role in the encounter with battered women, The importance of knowledge in nursing care and The organization's impact on the nursing care. Nurses´ experienced a lack of relevant education in how and when to ask women about intimate partner violence without insult and repelling the women. Nurses pointed out that the need for extended collaboration with other professions would be of great assistance in meeting women exposed to intimate partner violence. Nurses observed that it was difficult to shouldering their professional role and provide the assistance that the women needed to receive. The result showed that nurses have an important and prominent role in assisting women exposed to intimate partner violence.

Les violences conjugales faites aux femmes demeurent l’un des plus grands scandales en matière d’usages, de coutumes et de droits humains. Ces travaux ont été réalisés en Iran, à Téhéran, en 2008, dans le cadre de centres médicaux, sur une population de femmes battues.Les hypothèses envisagent que les deux dimensions, tolérance et violence, sont associées de manière significative aux violences physiques, sexuelles, psychologiques et économiques, compte tenu de l'existence d'antécédents de violence dans la famille d’origine, du faible soutien social, du manque de soutien familial, de l' âge et du niveau socio-économique. Cette partie a permis d’établir une base conceptuelle pour organiser le matériel consulté et donner un sens aux résultats des recherches. Les résultats de notre recherche montrent :- Une relation significative et directe entre la violence, l’âge, la durée du couple, l’expérience de la maltraitance (antécédents familiaux), la pression ou l'influence familiale, le manque ou l’absence de soutien économique, l’inquiétude pour les enfants, l’habitude de la violence et la difficulté de vivre ;- une relation significative et inverse entre la violence et le niveau d’étude, l'absence de soutien social, l’attachement au mari et le comportement gênant de celui-ci ;- une absence de relation significative entre la violence et les variables suivantes : le niveau de salaire, la profession des femmes, le nombre d’enfants, le regard négatif porté par la société sur les femmes divorcées, le sentiment de culpabilité, l’espoir d’un changement d’attitude du mari et la mésestime de soi.- Autant de résultats, au moins pour ces derniers, qui ne laissent pas sans surprise / Violence towards a woman, within a married couple, is just unacceptable as regards ethics and Human Rights. This study about battered wives was carried out in various medical centers in Tehran, Iran, in 2008. Tolerance and violence are connected in a significant way with physical, sexual, psychological and economic violence and we have to take into account such elements as age, a history of violence in the family, a lack of social and family support and the social and economic background. We have thus set up a conceptual base to organize the collected information and to make sense with the conclusions of our research. These conclusions show:- A significant and direct link between violence, age, the number of years husband and wife have been living together, the history of violence in the family, the influence or the pressure of the family, the lack of economic support, the concern for the children, the habit of violence and the difficulty to live.- A significant and reverse link between violence and the level of ability, the lack of social support, the attachment to the husband and the husband’s wrong behavior.- No significant link between violence and the following variants : the level of income, the woman’s job, the number of children, the lack of social consideration for a divorced woman, the feeling of guilt, the hope for a change in the husband’s behavior and the lack of self-esteem.Such conclusions, and particularly the third one, are quite a surprise.

The aim of this study was to examine battered women’s stories about resistance within domestic relationships, and to problematize previous research theoretical description of adaptation and resistance as a dichotomous contradiction. More specifically the aim of this study was to challenge the view of battered women as only passive victims without agency, and to gain an increased understanding how adaptation can be a form of resistance. The study was based on five autobiographies, where the female authors described their experiences of living with an abusive male partner in a heterosexual relationship in a swedish context. Allan Wades definition of resistance, the leaving process and the normalization process were used as theoretical perspectives to analyze the study’s results. One of the main results showed that all the women in the autobiographies exercised resistance and that the resistance was expressed in different forms. Another result showed that more open forms of resistance almost always led to severe consequences for the battered women. As a conclusion battered women’s adaptation can be perceived as a subtle form of resistance, since they adapt to survive but still opposes the violence through thoughts and subtle acts. Thus another conclusion were that a description of adaptation and resistance as a dichotomous contradiction is problematic.

Domestic abuse is the number one cause of injury to women in the United States. Women and their children flee everyday to shelters to escape the abuse. Once inside the shelters, material resources are rendered so that the women can continue to lead lives outside the shelter and different therapies are employed so that the women can better understand the abuse and their options once leaving. A type of therapy used in other therapeutic forums, such as patients sexually abused as children, is dream analysis. This type of therapy has allowed formerly traumatized victims a safe space to uncover hidden traumas, acknowledge them and begin to write new scripts for their lives. The theoretical view behind this paper is that dream analysis could be a feminist tool of empowerment for women participating in domestic abuse therapy. As a researcher, I performed research at The Spring, Tampa Florida's only domestic abuse shelter for women and their children. During the research, I observed multiple domestic violence group therapy sessions, interviewed the facilitator of this group, and held personal interviews with five different women over a three month period. During these interviews, the women discussed in detail their lives, the abuse they sustained and their dreams surrounding the abuse. The women were asked to give interpretations of the meanings of their dreams, which are incorporated in the paper. Throughout the interviews, it was of vital importance that the battered women's standpoints were privileged and that they remained the experts of their own experiences. During this process, two points became clear: forgotten traumas resurfaced during dreamtime and the women understood they were "too good" for the abuse and should leave. It became clear that dream analysis could be a feminist tool of empowerment for this highly marginalized community.

Bakgrund: Cirka 70 % av alla kvinnor i världen har någon gång blivit utsatta för våld. Forskning visade att det fanns en rädsla hos vårdpersonalen för att ta upp problemet med kvinnorna. Vårdpersonal har ett ansvar när det gäller att upptäcka och identifiera våldet som kvinnan upplevt. Syfte: Syftet var att belysa fysiskt våldsutsatta kvinnors upplevelser av vad som kännetecknar en god vårdrelation. Metod: Studien genomfördes som en allmän litteraturstudie, detta med hjälp av 11 vetenskapliga artiklar. Resultat: Huvudfynden var en bekräftande dialog, en förtroende och tillitskapande relation och ett professionellt bemötande. Slutsats: Vårdpersonal bör visa respekt för de våldsutsatta kvinnorna och även vara goda lyssnare. Kroppsspråket kan visa om en person verkligen tycker det den säger. Som vårdpersonal är det därför viktigt att tänka ut vart man själv står i frågan om våldsproblemet, så att man kan lägga det åt sidan och ge sin patient den optimala vård som behövs. Varje möte med en patient ger möjlighet att lära känna denne bättre, på så vis kan individuell omvårdnad ges. / Background: About 70% of all women in the world have sometimes been the victims of violence. Research has shown that health professionals are afraid of asking about the violence. Health professionals have a responsibility when it comes to detecting and identifying violence against the women. Aim: The aim of this study was to illustrate physically battered women's experiences of what characterizes a good health care relationship. Method: The study was conducted as a general literature review, this with the help of 11 scientific articles. Result: The main findings were a confirmation dialog, a confidence and trust-building relationship and a professional approach. Conclusion: Clinicians should show respect for battered women and also be good listeners. Body language can show if a person really mean what he/she says. As health professionals, it is important to figure out where you self stands on the issue of violence, so you can put it aside and give the patient the optimal care that is needed. Every meeting with a patient creates an opportunity to get to know her better. In this way an individual care can be given.

In this dissertation, teenagers (13-19 years) are allowed to speak out. The purpose of the study was to gain knowledge regarding the conditions related to socialization in the proximity of violence through listening to, interpreting and attempting to understand the teenagers' narratives about life when violence is an everyday occurrence. Primarily, I wanted to obtain a picture of the conditions under which these girls and boys grew up as they themselves described them. My questions are primarily concerned with the teenagers' experiences of violence in the home, the strategies they used to cope with a violent home environment and finally with their self-images. Secondarily, my intention was to analyze and interpret the picture that emerged in an attempt to understand the meaning of socialization in the proximity of violence, primarily based upon theories of sexualized violence (aspects of gender and power), coping, resilience, and the social heritage of violence-related behavior (the inter-generational transmission of violent behavior). My purpose was also to relate the descriptions and analysis of domestic violence, and the associated conditions under which these young people grew up, to previous research within the field of family violence. The dissertation is grounded in feminist theory which views the gender and power relationships between women and men as a determining principle of social organization. I associate this with the established Scandinavian concept of "sexualized violence," used to describe forms of abuse and sexual exploitation such as rape, incest and other sexual assaults, pornography, the sex trade and sexual harassment. Fifteen teenagers living in Sweden volunteered to be informants for the study. They were interviewed six to ten times each over a four year period. The interviews progressed in steps from background information to the most private and sensitive questions about the violence which had taken place in the home. The number of interviews was determined case by case; the interviews were concluded when no or few new aspects emerged. The analysis is based in part upon the categorized statements and in part upon the longer narratives. The results show that the young people exist in the presence of violence as witnesses to and victims of violence perpetrated by their fathers. The children are threatened into silence and bear inner feelings of powerlessness and loneliness. They are regarded as different in school, bullied by peers and disregarded by adults. In this double victimization, the children feel themselves to be unwanted and worthless. If the child breaks the secrecy and seeks help, he or she experiences utter betrayal, foremost from social authorities. The lack of protective factors and insightful adults is nearly total. The very essential contact with peers has also been denied them. The children feel themselves to be completely abandoned. Using their own resources, they yet manage to formulate their thoughts, create meaning in events and become survivors. / digitalisering@umu