Qualitative research involving battered women requires advanced planning to protect participants and the investigator from the risk of violence from an abusive partner. Domestic violence creates a potentially dangerous research environment that is seldom discussed in the literature. The use of a safety protocol has been advocated as a way to ensure that research is conducted with maximum safeguards for the participating women. In this article, the author presents a safety protocol developed for a study of battered women's perceptions of danger in their relationship. Issues that relate to safety contacting participants, conducting the interviews, and protecting data are discussed.

The purpose of this article is to describe the prevalence of intimate partner violence in primary care populations and review the known physical, mental health and pregnancy consequences of abuse as well as discuss the implications of intimate partner violence on primary care practice.

This article describes the context of women's relationships with battering men. Social chaos as the context of battering emergedfrom a grounded theory study of women's perceptions of danger in their relationships with battering men. Social chaos is created by a combination of factors: abusive men's unpredictability and use of unbalancing behaviors, contradictions, women's impaired sense of self, and the secrecy of battering. Chaos creates a sense of danger in battered women and serves to control their behavior. Social chaos is a component of dangerousness and has implications for assessing danger in woman battering.

The call by healthcare providers and advocates to do more for battered women in healthcare settings has placed nursing administrators on the front lines in developing protocols to identify and intervene with survivors of domestic violence. Institutional support and planning are essential in developing effective policies and protocols. The author addresses key issues for nurse administrators to consider when developing domestic violence policies and protocols.