Domestic violence: how to ask and how to listen

Significant numbers of women experience physical, sexual, and psychological abuse by their partners or family members and come to the emergency department for care. The nurse has a unique opportunity to make a difference in these women's lives by simply asking about the abuse in a caring and confidential manner. Listening and thinking in terms of a stage-based approach to behavioral change with battered women may guide the emergency nurse toward more effective intervention strategies. The goal is not to "fix it" but rather to partner with her and offer options that may help shift her trajectory toward more safety and less isolation.