ABSTRACT
The process of leaving an abusive relationship involves repeated attempts at leaving and returning and is influenced by a number of individual characteristics and contextual factors. Leaving is an initial step in recovering from an abusive relationship, a process that also includes struggling for survival, grieving, and searching for the meaning of the experience. Nurses must recognize that recovering from an abusive relationship can be a lifelong process, and health care providers have unique opportunities to support a woman's recovery.
Subject(s)
Battered Women , Nursing , Spouse Abuse , Women's Health , Female , Humans , WashingtonABSTRACT
This article outlines clinical approaches with women in abusive relationships or those who recently have left such situations. A model, the process of entrapment in and recovering from an abusive relationship, describes the experience of women in abusive relationships with a male partner and the cumulative influence of these experiences on women's views of self. This model has served as the basis for the development of specific interventions designed to assist women at different points in time while they experience abuse in a relationship or are recovering from the experience of being abused.
