A comparison of intimate partner violence between Jordanian nurses and Jordanian women.

Intimate partner violence is a serious international problem. It is not known if the extent of intimate partner violence for Jordanian nurses is similar to that of Jordanian women. Until the rate is known, implementation of nursing interventions for Jordanian women may be thwarted. The study purpose was to determine the rate of intimate partner violence among Jordanian nurses working in governmental health settings in a northern city of Jordan and to compare the rate to published statistics for a community sample of Jordanian women. A cross-sectional survey design was used for this study. A stratified random sample of 80 Jordanian nurses working in governmental women's health centers and public hospitals in a northern city of Jordan was invited to participate. Institutional review board approval was granted. Participants completed the Woman Abuse Screening Tool in a private room at their work site. No identifiers were added to the survey forms. Chi-squared goodness-of-fit tests were computed to compare the rate of intimate partner violence between the study sample and reported statistics for Jordanian women. Approximately 59% of participants experienced psychological violence, 12.5% experienced physical violence, and 5.1% experienced sexual violence. No significant differences were found in the rates of violence for the study sample and published data for a community sample of Jordanian women. Intimate partner violence is as prevalent against Jordanian nurses as it is for Jordanian women. Intimate partner violence needs to be addressed to prevent potential sequelae such as decreased work productivity and an inability to provide safe patient care.