Emotional violence among women in intimate relationships in Botswana

A Heideggerian hermeneutic phenomenological approach was used to investigate the lived experience of women in Botswana who had experienced emotional abuse in intimate relationships. Hermeneutic phenomenology is concerned with the human experience as it is lived. Ten educated Botswana women who had formal employment and have been in intimate relationships for longer than ten years, narrated their life experiences with abusive men. Extensive interviews took place over a six month period. Sociocultural practices in Botswana emerged as salient factors that contribute to emotional abuse and predispose women to mental illness. Entwined in these cultural practices are issues of age, ethnicity, payment of lobola (bride price), financial standing, change of name, and relocation to the man's residence. Education and employment seem to worsen the abuse. Depression and anxiety are common results of abuse. Understanding how the sociocultural factors perpetuate abuse can assist nurses in the way they provide health care services to women.