Women's experiences with healthcare professionals after suffering from gender‐based violence: An interview study

Inger Wallin Lundell, Louise Eulau, Frida Bjarneby and Margareta Westerbotn

Journal of Clinical Nursing, 2018, vol. 27, issue 5-6, 949-957

Abstract: Aims and objectives This study sought to describe how women in Mexico who have suffered from gender‐based violence experience their encounters with healthcare professionals. Background Gender‐based violence is a worldwide problem. Previous studies have described that women feel they are not being cared for appropriately during their encounters with healthcare professionals. This study was conducted in Mexico, which has a high rate of gender inequality. Design A descriptive, qualitative study was conducted. Methods Face‐to‐face interviews were conducted with seven women. An inductive content analysis was used to analyse the interviews. Results The analyses resulted in four categories: Feelings of guilt about being abused, Feelings of being unimportant, Feelings of taking time and Feelings of being insecure/secure. The women emphasised the importance of healthcare professionals taking time out of their busy schedules for them. When they treated the women with respect and genuine interest, the women felt secure. When the healthcare professionals did not meet these expectations, feelings of frustration and mistrust were elicited. Conclusions Feelings of being listened to and safety were considered important aspects in a positive encounter, whereas feeling a lack of time or interest often led to negative experiences such as frustration with and distrust of the healthcare system. These results imply that healthcare professionals may have deficiencies with regard to how these women are treated because these women do not feel that they receive the proper support. Relevance to clinical practice Education regarding how to approach women who have suffered from gender‐based violence is essential for healthcare professionals to establish respectful encounters. The findings of this study stress that relatively simple efforts such as listening to these women's stories and providing them with genuine attention might substantially improve care.

Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://doi.org/10.1111/jocn.14046

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:wly:jocnur:v:27:y:2018:i:5-6:p:949-957

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Journal of Clinical Nursing from John Wiley & Sons
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Wiley Content Delivery ().