Domestic violence in the form of spousal abuse is an epidemic in the United States if statistics may be believed. According to The National Coalition Against Domestic Violence (NCADV) more than half of married women (27 million) will experience violence during their marriage (Spousal 1). This number is up from a 1980 study that reported 28% of women had experienced violence at some point in their marriage (Library 1). Others studies confirm that domestic violence is typically male-on-female violence. In a study reported in the Physician Assistant, Jack Kircher reports that “over 90% of the abuse involves men assaulting women” (87). Linda Portier defines domestic violence as “a pattern of coercive control and terror that one person uses over another” (105). Abuse may be verbal, psychological, physical, sexual or even economic.
Aside from the statistics, spousal abuse is a major problem for American society because FBI studies also show that 53-% to 70% of the men who abuse their wives also abused a child, and each year 2000-3000 women die at the hands of their husbands (Kircher 88). In addition, battered women used a disproportionate amount of healthcare and social services than women who are in violence-free marriages, from emergency room and hospital visits to mental health care and shelter arrangements. While there is a great deal of research on married women who suffer from domestic abuse in urban areas, there is little information on those from minority and rural areas. Satya Krishnan notes, “there is little research and relatively few estimates of the incidence and prevalence of domestic violence among minority populations” (33). In addition, Krishnan also writes, “limited efforts have been devoted to the plight and needs of women in such relationships who live in rural communities” (35). As a result, minority and rural married women are unable to take advantage of the lessons learned through resear...