Confronting Violence

Guidelines for Doing Hospital Advocacy, 1982

The Women's Advocacy Program at Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis, an outreach program of the Harriet Tubman Women's Shelter, was one of the first hospital-based advocacy programs for women who were battered, in the United States. These guidelines—meant for "women's advocate volunteers" in a hospital setting—stressed the importance of "accepting a woman as she is, supporting what she chooses to do…helping her explore her feelings… [since] she may not realize how potentially dangerous her situation is." The guidelines are an example of how feminist-inspired advocacy was integrated into domestic violence-related forensic nursing practices.

Courtesy National Library of Medicine