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December 05-06, 2019 | Dubai, UAE
29
th
International Conference on
14
th
International Conference on
Nursing Education and Research
Cancer and Cancer Therapy
Joint Event
&
Journal of Intensive and Critical Care Nursing | Volume 2
An exploration of clients’ agency regarding their own reproductive healthwhile living with
intimate partner violence
Sumaya Joseph
Department of Health Western Cape, South Africa
Problem:
A study conducted amongst women in Soweto,
South Africa attending antenatal clinics in 2002, found that
21.8% of women seeking care experienced multiple assaults
by a male partner (Dunkle, Jewkes, Brown, Yoshihama, Gray,
McIntyre, & Harlow, 2004:238).
This study aims to develop insight into how intimate partner
violence influences women’s decision making and ultimate
reproductive health choices.
Methodology and theoretical orientation:
women were
interviewed using a semi-structured interview guide. A
qualitative descriptive approach was adopted with an
embedded feminist perspective. Describing lived experiences
has been conceptualised as an overarching philosophy on
which all qualitative research draws. Descriptive qualitative
research recognises an experience as being unique to an
individual. Hermeneutic descriptive qualitative research
concerns with creating a rich, deep account of an experience
(Burns & Grove, 2011:76).
Research setting:
All women attended a primary health care
facility within the Khayelitsha Eastern substructure of the
Western Cape South Africa.
Findings:
Women have limited agency which influenced not
only their reproductive and sexual health but their daily lives.
Conclusion:
The lack of agency challenges women’s ability
to make reproductive health choices. Adhering to social
norms is of higher value than women’s rights and become
an oppressive force. Intimate partner violence coupled with,
fear challenges women’s agency in a society where women
have a lower status than men. Women living with intimate
partner violence are at risk of unwanted pregnancies, sexually
transmitted infections and HIV. This is mainly because of a
lack of agency. Individual stories behind statistics are powerful
tools to raise awareness and steer interventions to advocate
for the empowerment of women’s health care.
The following is a summary of themes that emerged.
Theme
Sub-theme
Social Norms
•Alcohol use.
•Masculinity vs Femininity.
•Reproductive health issues.
•Culture and religious pressure.
•Love and belonging.
Mental state and agency
•Psychological trauma.
This is it! This theme relates
to reasons women gave for
eventually getting what they
want.
•“I am a mother, I am a daughter”
• “I didn’t tell him”
Speaker Biography
Sumaya Joseph Nurse (general, psychiatric & community) and midwife-
Coronation Nursing College. Advanced midwifery and neonatal nursing
science-University of Johannesburg. Nursing administration, Nursing
education-BCur UNISA-clinical nursing science, Health assessment,
treatmentandcare-StellenboschUniversity.MNur-StellenboschUniversity.
She is a nurse/midwife for over 20 years. She is currently, employed by the
department of health in theWestern Cape, as an Operational manager of a
maternal child health unit in Khayelitsha. She has studied at Rand Afrikaans
University, University of South Africa and recently completed a Master’s
degree in Nursing at Stellenbosch University. In 2015 she was identified
as an expert in midwifery by the provincial nursing department and was
invited to join the team of obstetricians from South Africa, at the RCOG
(Royal College of Obstetrics and Gynaecology) to give input on post-partum
contraceptive training manuals. She continues to advocate for women’s
reproductive rights.
e:
sumayajoseph@gmail.comJ Intensive Crit Care Nurs | Volume 2