[Between denial and helplessness: health care providers facing domestic violence in Mexico]

To increase the knowledge of health care providers' understanding of and practices on domestic violence, in order to improve care.

This study was conducted between May and November 2003, In Quintana Roo, Coahuila, and Mexico City, three Mexican states with a high prevalence of domestic violence. Sixty in-depth interviews with health care providers in public health institutions and key informants of health service provision were completed.

Health care providers were categorized based on the extent to which they reproduced four"discourses about violence". These discourses influence their daily practice and are related to the informants' gender values and social positions. Most informants expressed their willingness to address the issue of domestic violence. CONCLUSIONS. Attention to and care for domestic violence is insufficient in health services; this may be due more closely related to a predominant discourse tolerating domestic violence among decision-makers, than to the attitudes of health care providers; the latter demonstrated greater awareness of women's rights.