Confronting Violence

Violence Against Women: Review of Nursing Research on Battering, 1989

Jacquelyn Campbell was one of the first to recognize the critical role medical providers had in ensuring the health and safety of women who were battered. Campbell wrote this review of published studies by nurses on battering of women. She noted that the nursing research focused on "wife abuse" in particular. The research examined different aspects of battering, such as battered women's experiences with the health care system, homicide, marital rape, and battering during pregnancy. Common in the studies was the evidence of the nurse researchers' firsthand experiences in knowing and working with women who were battered. Campbell summarized that the nursing research on women abuse was becoming impressive and notable in its unique, holistic approach to the development of knowledge in this field.