Health care responses at retreat community health centre to cases of domestic violence

Abstract

Abused women are confronted with many issues when seeking medical advice and when living in abusive relationships. The aim of this study was to ascertain how health care givers respond to and provide treatment to cases of domestic violence. Furthermore, I also looked at how abused women experiences intimate abuse and how they experience the health care services provided to them. Qualitative methodology was utilized with the focus on in depth interviews and participant observation. In depth interviews were conducted with ten abused women and seven health care givers at Retreat Community Health Centre and Steenberg police station. The study showed that abused women, as well as health care givers, perceive domestic violence as a private matter. Dealing with domestic violence in health care facilities is made more complex by the fact that it needs to be treated, while also staying confidential and a potential intrusion on the privacy of the women who seek help. Despite all the state and public discussions on domestic violence as a health problem, it was in actuality still regarded as falling in the private and the social sphere. The study also indicates that to enable them to deal with constant violence, abused women develop various coping strategies. Women staff learned to cope with community violence, often by behaving in what is normally considered to be masculine ways, by 'performing' a toughness they felt might protect them. Abused women on the other hand use protection orders against their abusive partners.