title: Coping strategies adopted by nurses experiencing domestic violence by their marital partners.
abstract: This facility-based study was conducted at a tertiary care hospital in New Delhi. Thirty nurses identified to be exposed to physical or sexual violence ever in life through a pilot study were purposively selected for further studying their coping strategies. The pilot study was initially conducted among 60 ever married female nurses sampled conveniently. Data was collected using self-administered standardised questionnaire adapted from WHO multi-country study on women's health and domestic violence. To estimate coping strategies, Section 9 of the data were analysed using SPSS 12 software. Eleven respondents (36.3%) experiencing physical or sexual violence, informed friends and close relatives about husband's violent behaviour while 40 percent talked to no one. Only 5 (16.7%) nurses sought help from formal agencies. Reasons for not seeking help mainly were considering violence as normal/not serious (20%), fear that he would end relationship (20%), fear of consequences (16.7%). Nurses mainly sought help on being encouraged by friends/family (6.7%). The study found that relatively few nurses experiencing domestic violence talk to someone or seek help from formal agencies.
authors.forename: Kamlesh Kumari
authors.initials: KK
authors.lastname: Sharma
authors.forename: Manju
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Vatsa
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007194:India / Q000453:epidemiology; D009741:Nursing Staff, Hospital / Q000523:psychology*; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care / Q000523:psychology*; D010865:Pilot Projects; D012307:Risk Factors; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013179:Spouse Abuse / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires