Head injury and battered women: an initial inquiry

Approximately 2 to 3 million women are battered by their intimate partners each year. Severe injuries requiring emergency medical treatment of battered women have been noted, yet the prevalence of head injuries and the negative consequences emanating from such injuries have been noticeably absent from the literature. The descriptive study discussed in this article examined the case records of residents in a domestic violence shelter over a three-month period and found a 35 percent prevalence rate of battered women who had experienced head injury during a battering incident with their intimate partner. This study calls attention to the long-range difficulties that head-injured battered women may experience as a result of cognitive, emotional, and behavioral difficulties resulting from domestic violence and how social workers can intervene with this population.