Design: Descriptive exploratory qualitative study.

Sample: 17 Latina women, survivors of intimate partner violence (IPV), primarily undocumented, Spanish-speaking, clients of a battered women's service agency and legal services agency in an urban setting.

Methods: 2 semi-structured interviews with concurrent data analysis using interpretive phenomenology; member checking via focus group and 3rd interview.

Findings: Battered Latina women in the United States are extremely isolated and experience tremendous fear of disclosure of IPV to HCPs. They fear that disclosure will lead to forced involvement with children's protective services, the police, and Immigration, as well as increased abuse. Requisites to feeling safe to disclose IPV include: feeling that their providers care about them and are trustworthy; the provision of concrete information about the consequences of disclosure prior to any disclosure; and screening for IPV. HCPs were largely perceived as uncaring and unhelpful.

Conclusions: Multiple fears and negative experiences with HCPs keep battered Latina women from disclosing IPV, resulting in missed opportunities for intervention.

Implications: Both the process and the outcome of this study involved building community. The research process required prior and on-going collaboration among community HCPs, legal services, and battered women's services. Study informants recommended closer alliances among these community agencies, with the aim of improved interventions for battered Latina women. Several opportunities for creative community collaboration were suggested by the informants and are being evaluated for implementation. Moreover, powerful implications for policy changes in clinical care emerged from the data.

Learner Objectives: 1. Describe the health care experiences of battered Latina women. 2. Describe opportunities for collaboration among health care providers and community-based services for battered Latina women.

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Back to 15th International Nursing Research Congress
Sigma Theta Tau International
July 22-24, 2004