Learning Objective #1: describe differences in how health care professionals treat victims of intimate partner violence based on their location of residence.

Learning Objective #2: identify the barriers that impede victims of intimate partner violence from seeking health care.

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Evidence-based studies of rural women who have experienced domestic violence are scarce. It is thought, that domestic violence is often underreported in rural areas where there is less privacy and anonymity for domestic violence survivors. Moreover, many believe that the challenges and occurrences experienced by survivors of domestic violence are likely made worse by residence in a rural community. The purpose of this study was to identify whether rural victims of domestic violence have greater barriers to care than suburban and urban victims of domestic violence. This study was conducted using secondary data. The Commonwealth Fund in 1998 surveyed a random sample of US residents by telephone to examine domestic violence experienced by individuals. This is a descriptive correlational study in which chi square statistic was used for the preliminary analysis. Significant differences were found among rural, suburban and urban victims of domestic violence for age and marital status. Significant differences were not found among rural, suburban and urban victims of Domestic Violence for health care access, mental health access, MDs' response to the woman's disclosure of domestic violence, MDs' asking about domestic violence, MDs' referring for supportive services for domestic violence, and MDs' reporting to the police victims of domestic violence. In conclusion, rural victims of domestic violence were not found to have greater barriers to care than suburban and urban victims of domestic violence.