Battered women--their susceptibility to treatment

During an eight-month period a trial was made of a special therapeutic programme focused on the diagnosis and treatment of battered women who sought treatment for physical injuries at a surgical emergency department. Forty-nine women agreed to undergo the treatment programme, the aim of which was to provide social and psychological support. The women were treated as inpatients at the department of surgery. After their discharge from the hospital, contact on an out-patient basis was difficult to maintain. Nearly half of the women dropped out during the first month and only 22 women (45%) completed the programme. The causes of the high drop-out rate were analysed considering the women's backgrounds of repeated battering, high alcohol consumption and psychiatric morbidity. It is concluded that battered women need long-term and individualized support and that more attention should be focused on the possibility of carrying out the suggested treatment. Prolonged ambulatory treatment within the frame of medical care does not, however, seem to be the right method for helping and supporting battered women.