Women victims of domestic violence: a phenomenological approach

Sandra Cristina Elias,Walquíria Jesusmara dos Santos,Patrícia Peres de Oliveira,Selma Maria da Fonseca Viegas,Edilene Aparecida Araújo da Silveira

doi:10.1590/0104-07072015002900013

Sandra Cristina Elias, Walquíria Jesusmara dos Santos + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1590/0104-07072015002900013

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Abstract

The aim of this study was to understand the experiences of women victims of domestic violence. The study entailed phenomenological research based on the theoretical framework of Maurice Merleau-Ponty, developed with ten women who were victims of domestic violence treated at a women's healthcare center in a municipality in the interior of the Brazilian state of São Paulo. Nuclei of meanings emerged from the statements, based on the analysis of the phenomenon of violence from the interviews, and led to the following themes: living with fear; living with physical injuries; and the decision to file a report after the violence experienced. The results showed that the experience lived and contained in these women's bodies enabled each one of them to evaluate their own existence, arousing the desire to leave the situation in order to exercise their role in the world. Thus, their bodies instrumentalized their beings, and allowed them to break the cycle of domestic violence.

Highlights

In its various forms, violence greatly impacts morbidity and mortality
The aim of this study was to understand the experiences of women victims of domestic violence
The study entailed phenomenological research based on the theoretical framework of Maurice Merleau-Ponty, developed with ten women who were victims of domestic violence treated at a women’s healthcare center in a municipality in the interior of the Brazilian state of São Paulo

Summary

Introduction

Violence is defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) as any act of aggression or negligence to a person that produces or may produce psychological harm or physical or sexual suffering, including threats, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, both in public or private. Violence affects all of society without distinction of race, sex, age, education, religion or socioeconomic status. It affects all socioeconomic classes, violence predominates in lower classes, with complaints being less frequent in middle and upper classes due to shame or fear of exposure.[2,3,4]

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