Too slap happy.

While awareness has been raised about domestic violence through a recent Body Shop campaign and focus upon the issue in television soaps the problem is still not fully understood and appropriate actions are not always taken. Many popular analyses of domestic violence still focus upon and blame the victim of domestic violence while marital rape was not recognized by law until 1991. Problems however are increasingly becoming recognized. Women who have experienced domestic violence need to be helped by the health professionals they encounter for were domestic violence to be identified acknowledged and acted upon its power would diminish. Research indicates that 95% of domestic violence is committed by men against women. While it is difficult to estimate the percentage of women which experience domestic violence US studies found that an act of domestic violence occurs every 7.4 seconds and that 30% of women experience such violence in their lifetime. A woman in Britain with injuries caused by domestic violence may be first seen by the Accident and Emergency (A&E) department of hospitals. Attending nurses should therefore be aware that domestic violence is the cause of many injuries and should regard abused women as people who may need long-term support. Some reasons are explained why only 5% of cases of domestic violence seen in A&E departments are detected. To most effectively help victims of domestic violence nurses must first become aware of the problem and then discuss it with other appropriate professionals. They should also make sure that they know about local helplines and shelters. While education for nurses would help it is up to nurses to take the initiative in addressing this issue.