Introduction
Domestic violence is a common issue in the society today. Both men and women suffer from domestic violence, but the majority of the violence is directed towards women. Domestic violence is a kind of behavior in a relationship that is abusive and intimidating to another party. Domestic violence is prevalent among families based on the manner in which it occurs. For this violence to be regarded as domestic, it should exist within the relationship and not within the vicinity of home. Domestic violence takes different forms, and all are directed towards hurting the other party. Physical abuse is a kind of violence that is directed at injuring a spouse physically or through threats. Emotional abuse is directed towards self-worth with the aim of making a person feel uncomfortable through her feelings. Economic abuse is directed o control of finances while social abuse aims at humiliating a person in public. Religious abuse is the denial of opinion on a spiritual issue. All these forms of abuses combine to form domestic violence (Howard et al., 2013).
I selected this vulnerability since it is easily neglected in the society. Women continue to suffer in their relationship but preserve with the goal of keeping their families intact and ensuring that children get the right care from their parents. The most common violence that is directed towards women is physical and emotional abuse. Most women are suffering in silence with emotional abuse. Some have been hurt physically and has only taken the intervention of the society for such abuses to be disclosed. Domestic violence is a vice that should be condemned in the society, and its victims accorded the right care to prevent further suffering, which could lead to psychological problems.
Relevant Group Statistics and Impact on Women’s Health
Women are widely abused in relationships, and this kind of violence occurs in different ways. It is estimated that over 355 of women globally have experienced some form of domestic violence. It has also been estimated that 85% of domestic violence victims are women. The statistics show that women are mostly faced with the acts of domestic violence. According to American Psychological Association, over 4 million women experience physical violence in the U.S. yearly. It is also estimated that over 18,000 women have been murdered since 2003 by men in conflicts that involve domestic violence. These statistics show that domestic violence is at its high and majority of women have lost their lives because of domestic violence (Devries et al., 2013).
Domestic violence has a significant impact on women’s health. Women who experience domestic violence preserve through an abuse whose impact might be long-term. Physical violence against women result in injuries and sometimes death. Many women have been physically hurt to a point where they rely on artificial support to walk. These injuries in other cases have seen women lose their lives in ordinary circumstances. Domestic violence additionally exposes women to depression and emotional stress. The depression if not controlled could turn out to be dangerous where women suffer from severe mental conditions that require constant psychological support. In some other cases, women suffer from a combination of the two, which leaves them in unstable conditions where they rely on specialized care to survive. Domestic violence has a direct health impact on women, and as long as the issue is not addressed, women will continue to suffer in relationships where they end up depressed.
Psychological Needs
Women suffering from domestic violence have unique psychological needs. Domestic violence is traumatizing in nature, and when it involves children, women are forced to go through painful challenges. Being in a relationship means that women demand certain psychological needs to be happy and have fulfillment in their relationships. Some of the common psychological needs of women in such kind of a relationship include;
Love and Intimacy
Women in relationship desire to be loved by their partners. The psychological need for love and affection is not present in a relationship where there is violence. Women deserve to be shown love and affection as a sign of being in a good relationship. Love and intimacy should be present to keep women happy and enthusiastic relationship (Howard et al., 2013).
Emotional Support
Emotional support refers to standing by one another and providing for emotional needs of a partner. Women lack emotional support in abuse relationship with domestic violence. They tend to get detached from the relationship and only remain in most cases when children exist. Emotional support is a show of love and care to women, which improves relationships.
Compassion and Forgiveness
Compassion is empathizing on one another while forgiveness is being resentful to one another when mistakes are made. Women in this group do not experience compassion since acts that deserve to be forgiven are used to inflict physical and emotional harm to the other partner. Compassion and forgiveness is a psychological need that should be present in a relationship (Howard et al., 2013).
Mutual Understanding
Mutual understanding is the ability to know each other deeply. Mutual understanding is based on emotional expression and open communication in a relationship. Mutual understanding is cultivated in a relationship, but women faced with domestic violence find it hard to have a shared understanding with their partners. Lack of mutual understanding in a relationship is one of the recipes for domestic violence.
Issues Influencing Culturally Competent Care
Culturally competent care is the ability to provide specialized care to patients while observing their cultural demands and backgrounds. Nursing practice recognizes the importance of being cultural competent mainly working in an environment full of diversity. Some issues influence culturally competent care. The first issue is language barrier mostly in communication. Diversity comes with the challenge, and culturally competent nurses should be able to communicate to patients. In the U.S. for example, there are diverse people from different parts of the world who are still trying to learn English. For nurses, it will be challenging to provide the right care to such nurses because communication is the primary challenge (Douglas et al., 2014).
Low literacy methods influence culturally competent care. In providing care, it is usually easier when dealing with patients who are learned. Literacy levels improve communication and allow patients to understand care procedures. Patients with low literacy levels might find it hard to follow instructions that could be crucial for their recovery. A culturally competent nurse will face challenges in dealing with such patients, which in turn affects care provision. Lack of cultural competence will affect care, as it will result in dissatisfaction among women. Women who require specialized care from their various problems will find it difficult to relate to a culturally competent nurse (Douglas et al., 2014).
Culturally and Ethically Competent Care Methods
Providing care to women faced with domestic violence is crucial towards reducing the health impacts of violence against women. The different methods used to provide care should be aligned with cultural implications. Some of the methods that could be crucial in this case are;
Understanding Cultural Needs of Patients
Different patients have different cultural needs. It is the role of a culturally competent nurse to identify the various cultural needs of patients to be able to develop a care plan. Different cultures call for different approaches to care provisions, and as such, nurses should be able to put into application the demands to avoid conflicting with the patients in question. The ability to understand patients is a means towards delivering quality and timely care.
Collaborating with other Nurses
Cultural competence can only be achieved through collaboration with other nurses. Nurses should be able to quickly discern the health need of the patient and determine if they are culturally competent to help such patients. If they are not in a position, they should be able to involve other nurses who might be knowledgeable and aware of the cultural background of the patients in question. It is through such a collaboration that the health needs of the population in question are provided (Douglas et al., 2014).
Reviewing Cultural Competencies
Cultural competencies should be reviewed from time to time. The nursing practice should be designed in a manner where cultural competencies are continuously reviewed so that nurses are better placed to provide quality care to patients. The continuous review will additionally equip learners with the right skills in care provision. At the end of it all, the population in question will be able to receive specialized care due to improved cultural competencies of the nurses.
References
Devries, K. M., Mak, J. Y., García-Moreno, C., Petzold, M., Child, J. C., Falder, G., … & Pallitto, C. (2013). The global prevalence of intimate partner violence against women. Science, 340(6140), 1527-1528.
Douglas, M. K., Rosenkoetter, M., Pacquiao, D. F., Callister, L. C., Hattar-Pollara, M., Lauderdale, J., … & Purnell, L. (2014). Guidelines for implementing culturally competent nursing care. Journal of Transcultural Nursing, 25(2), 109-121.
Howard, L. M., Oram, S., Galley, H., Trevillion, K., & Feder, G. (2013). Domestic violence and perinatal mental disorders: a systematic review and meta-analysis. PLoS medicine, 10(5), e1001452.
