Sexual violence against women: nurses’ practice

Abstract

Objective: to investigate the nurses’ practice regarding sexual violence against women. Methods: quantitative cross-sectionalresearch conducted with 27 nurses in six Primary Care Units from each of the health districts of a city in the countryside ofthe Northeast Region of Brazil. Data collection took place from October to November 2011 through a questionnaire. Results:among the respondents, 96.3% recognized that it is their role to investigate it; 22.2% of nurses questioned their patientsabout the violence; 85.1% treated suspected and/or confirmed cases; and 15.8% used some protocol during the service. Only18.5% felt able to treat cases of sexual violence. Conclusion: there were difficulties for the referral of cases and treatmentrecommendations. Thus, in-service training and dissemination of educational/informative material are mandatory.