Despite wide recognition that health care providers across all disciplines encounter victims of domestic violence in all practice settings, few have studied public health nurses (PHNs) who visit domestic violence victims and their families in their homes. Furthermore, the limited numbers of studies that have been conducted with PHNs have yet to describe the actual practice and experiences, from the perspective of the PHNs. Thus, the phenomenon of interest that will be investigated in this study is the lived experiences of PHNs who work with families experiencing domestic violence in their home visiting caseloads of childbearing/childrearing families.
The specific aims are to a) describe the lived experiences of public health nurses when they have identified and intervened in domestic violence cases within their home-visiting caseloads of childbearing/childrearing families, b) describe the lived experiences of public health nurses when they perceived that they were unable to intervene in cases of suspected or confirmed domestic violence in their home-visiting caseloads of childbearing/childrearing families, and c) describe the factors that influence domestic violence identification and intervention, derived from the lived experiences of public health nurses working with childbearing/childrearing families in their homes. The study will utilize a descriptive phenomenology approach, in which semi-structured interviews will be conducted with PHNs from three different practice settings: urban, suburban, and rural. The transcripts will be analyzed to compare and contrast the themes that emerge from the three different practice settings. This knowledge gained from this study is essential for further development of practice and research related to the role of PHNs in domestic violence prevention and intervention.
| Hymovich, D P; Roehnert, J E (1989) Psychosocial consequences of childhood cancer. Semin Oncol Nurs 5:56-62 |
