Social representation of domestic violence on women

Abstract

Background: domestic violence is a public health problem comprising a range of physical, sexual, psychological and social abuse. The social representation of domestic violence, as a social construction, is a less studied aspect and its understanding can be significant to create responses for these women. Objective: to know the social representation of domestic violence on women. Methodology: a qualitative, exploratory and descriptive research, in a non - probabilistic sample of the Oliveira de Azeméis population, was designed. For data collection, a word association test was used through a questionnaire. The IRAMUTEQ computer software was used to process the collected data. Results: when participants reflect on domestic violence about women, they associate fear, suffering and pain. It is noteworthy the high frequency of the terms sadness, shame and children. Self-esteem and discussion also emerge as relevant in the social representation of domestic violence. Conclusion: the exploration of the social representation of domestic violence allowed to obtain the interpretation of the, evidencing the negative aspects of the same as a penalizing experience for women.