The present article is a descriptive survey assessing nurses' knowledge, training, and practices regarding the care of abused women. A self-administered questionnaire was sent to all nurses working within the government health organization on the Aland Islands, Finland. The response rate was 57%. Most nurses had no formal training in domestic violence and were less likely than the in-service-trained nurses to intervene with abused women. Nurses' knowledge, beliefs, and practices were found to be unsystematic and had drawbacks. Nurses were not familiar with the formal structure provided by the health administration. The results suggest that in order to meet the urgent need for training among nurses, an in-service training program needs to be set up. This program would help the nurses in identifying survivors of abuse and make them prepared to intervene more effectively to promote the health of these women.

The main purpose of this qualitative study was to explore in depth selected expert nurses' experiences of the phenomenon of violence against women and the nurses' roles as health care providers to those women. The authors adopted a grounded theory method and produced an emerging theory comprising two key themes: nurses' personal perceptions toward intimate partner violence and nurses' feeling equipped to intervene. The findings showed that violence against women existed in a small local community and raised pitfalls caused by nurses' knowing the inhabitants. Furthermore, the findings indicate the devotion of nurses and the importance of their role in the care of battered women and the sharing of knowledge. Thus, the nurses compensate for a lack of training through personal maturity and security within the social context.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to explore if inner strength is independently associated with a reduced prevalence of depression after controlling for other known risk factors associated with depression. Methods: A population-based cross-sectional study was performed, where all women living in Åland, a Finnish self-govern island community in the Baltic Sea, aged 65 years or older were sent a questionnaire including the Geriatric Depression Scale and the Inner Strength Scale along with several other questions related to depression. Factors associated with depression were analyzed by means of multivariate logistic regression. Results: The results showed that 11.2% of the studied women (n = 1452) were depressed and that the prevalence increased with age and was as high as 20% in the oldest age group. Non-depressed women were more likely to never or seldom feel lonely, have a strong inner strength, take fewer prescription drugs, feeling needed, being able to engage in meaningful leisure activities, as well as cohabit. Conclusion: Our results showed an association between stronger inner strength and being non-depressed. This can be interpreted to mean that inner strength might have a protective effect against depression. These findings are interesting from a health-promotion perspective, yet to verify these results, further longitudinal studies are required.

The present study is a qualitative study aiming at explaining and understanding the experience of being battered. It explores the act of searching for help, from the health service and others, and the ending of abusive relationships. In-depth interviews were conducted with nine battered women. The study adopted a grounded theory method and produced an emerging core category fighting for survival and escape, and three key categories: having a personal construct of violence, struggling to cope with the violence, and feeling a need for support. The women with deep internal scars struggled to understand and to recover from the violence. They struggled between feeling guilty and feeling innocent. In the process of leaving, an important other, often a friend, played a supportive role in creating an inner strength within the woman, which enabled her to break up. Supportive professionals found relevant solutions and helped the women to maintain their new situation, while other professionals revictimized the women. We conclude that battered women with enhanced support include affirmation, information, and safety leading to increased survival and recovery.

By identifying sources of inner strength, health care personnel can be given valuable information about elderly people's capacities regardless of frailty. The focus of this interview-based study was to explore how inner strength and its dimensions can be identified in narratives of elderly women. The analysis was based on a theoretical model where inner strength is composed of 4 interacting dimensions of connectedness, creativity, firmness, and flexibility. Our findings add nuance to the notion of inner strength and deepen empirical knowledge about the concept.