Summary of analytical themes, HCP actions and emotional impacts on women if absent from care
| Theme | HCP actions | Emotional impact on women if absent from care | Example quotation |
| Connection through kindness and care | Demonstrate kindness, caring, empathy and respect to build trust. | Retraumatised51 | I think had she (HCP) had a better bedside manner, that experience wouldn’t have been as traumatic…she just wasn’t very kind51 (p.1173) |
| Untouchable61 | It’s as if you’ve got some kind of disease, nobody wants to come close to you, nobody wants to catch it.61 (p.2258). | ||
| Ignored, abandoned and neglected47 72 | She (HCP) made it clear to me that she didn’t care about the situation that I was in.47 (p.99) | ||
| Intimidated62 | It was a bit intimidating because of the midwife, her attitude. I don’t think she was having a good day.62 (p.800) | ||
| Sustain personal engagement to maintain support. | Alone50 60 | How can they help when they do not know me?50 (p.1216) | |
| Feeling like time was wasted63 | …you get one lady that asks you about that type of stuff and then you talk to that person and you go to your next visit but THAT lady has no idea and then you go to your NEXT visit and then THAT person has no idea63 (p.346) | ||
| See the evil, hear the evil, speak the evil. | When listening to women, strive to understand the dynamics and context of their situation. | Dismissed53 67 | She asked my children, ‘Where is your father?’ … She just avoided my feelings and kept saying they have to see their father and I should not stop that opportunity.50 (p1216) |
| Silenced53 55 72 | Most of the time, they (physicians) think you are just getting a little carried away, you are a little high-strung, you are very nervous, you have always been this way, so calm down53 (p.902) | ||
| Name the abuse and validate experiences. | Feelings of self-blame and guilt61 64 | If you are not left black and blue or (do not) have physical injuries, (then) it feels that it does not count. As if you should be able to take a few bad words or insults because it is normal.64 (p952) | |
| Feeling ignored and disrespected51 53 69 70 72 78 | I told the physician that this (injury) was caused by my husband… But his response was like, ‘So what? What do you want me to examine? ’It was like he was asking me why I had gone there (the ER) with such a minor injury… He seemed to be annoyed that I had come to the ER due to marital quarrels69 (p.67) | ||
| Distress51 | That’s one of the most distressing things about going to see doctors… you know that something’s not right but… they tell you you’re fine… You just want to take them by their shoulders and be like ‘no, I promise you that I’m not!’51 (p.1175) | ||
| Do more than just listen. | Action and advocacy guided by women’s needs | Feeling like time was wasted54 55 67 73 | (the HCP) only offered pills, no conversation, no therapy or counselling… nothing, only pills.67 (p.369) |
| Let down47 63 64 | My solicitors were sending letters to my doctor. My doctor wasn’t doing nothing for me though, you know tests for the courts and stuff, he wouldn’t do nothing like that… He has not done nothing for me, you know what I mean, and that’s what caused me problems.55 (p.2369) | ||
| Betrayed47 69 | I trusted him (the physician) because he took care of my body when I was pregnant. However, I finally realised that I had made a mistake in choosing a person to talk to about (my problems with IPV). I never visited that clinic again69 (p.297) | ||
| Connect women with services in the community for health, safety and well-being. | Vulnerable, helpless46 67 | You are a bit helpless at the beginning. You don’t know which kind of help you can get at all, which (help) makes sense.67 (p.370) | |
| Planting the right seed | Tailor responses to women’s individual circumstances. | Disappointed56 63 64 67 69 | Most of them (HCPs) have been neutral when I′ve talked about it (IPV). Someone has said that I’ve been strong, you are smart and intelligent, and you’ll make it. I′m so tired of hearing that!71 (p.2307) |
| Facilitate women’s empowerment, choice and control. | Infantilised55 | I don’t do well with paternalistic doctors who just wanna tell you what to do and you’re supposed to just say ‘yes ma’am, yes sir’ and do it51 (p.1173) | |
| Oppressed64 | I came to talk to a male nurse for some time, but he would always reprimand me. It was like he got angry when I did not do the things he told me to do; it was like the situation felt oppressive.64 (p.) | ||
| Overwhelmed45 | I was traumatised all the time. Everybody’s opinion was better than my opinion and I never took time to think of what I wanted or what I needed. Nobody asked me what I wanted. Everybody told me, ‘You should, you should, you should.45 (p.26) |
HCP, healthcare provider.