Open Journal of Nursing, 2015, 5, 548-557 Published Online June 2015 in SciRes. http://www.scirp.org/journal/ojn http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/ojn.2015.56058 How to cite this paper: Pratt-Eriksson, D., Dahlborg-Lyckhage, E., Lind, C., Sundberg, K. and Bergbom, I. (2015) Identifying Lifetime and Occurrence of Intimate Partner Violence among Women in Sweden Seeking Emergency Care. Open Journal of Nursing, 5, 548-557. http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/ojn.2015.56058 Identifying Lifetime and Occurrence of Intimate Partner Violence among Women in Sweden Seeking Emergency Care Darcia Pratt-Eriksson 1,2* , Elisabeth Dahlborg-Lyckhage 3 , Caroline Lind 4 , Katarina Sundberg 5 , Ingegerd Bergbom 1 1 Institute of Health and Care Sciences, Sahlgrenska Akademy, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden 2 Neurological Department, Huddinge, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden 3 University West, Trollhättan, Sweden 4 Emergency Care, Emergency Department, Kungälv Hospital, Kungälv, Sweden 5 Psychiatric Care, Psychiatric Outpatient Clinic, Community Hospital Lilla Edet, Sweden Email: * darcia.pratt-eriksson@karolinska.se Received 16 May 2015; accepted 26 June 2015; published 30 June 2015 Copyright © 2015 by authors and Scientific Research Publishing Inc. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution International License (CC BY). http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Abstract Background: Sweden is known for its strong views on equality between men and women. Neverthe- less, if one scratches the surface, one will realize that intimate partner violence (IPV) is a problem meriting much closer attention. Emergency nurses have an important role in identifying women who have IPV experiences. Objective: To identify and investigate the occurrence of reported experienced IPV during their lifetime among women seeking emergency care. Design: An explorative and com- parative design was used based on answers on the Abuse Assessment Screen questionnaire and some demographic data. The data was described and analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 21. Results: Of the 300 invited women visiting an emergency department in a small town, 234 completed the questionnaire. Of these 234, 82 (35%) reported having expe- rienced emotional; physical or sexual violence and 31 (13%) reported to being afraid of their partner. Of the women 181 had one child or more and 58 (32%) of these reported having been abused. Of all women, with four or more children, 75% (15) reported to have been abused, while only 25% (5) reported no abuse. Of the 82 women who reported having been abused 12 (15%) reported being abused in the course of the year prior to pregnancy and 9 (11%) during pregnancy, often several times. The main abuser was the woman’s husband, boyfriend, cohabitating partner, ex-partner, or someone else who was seen as a relative, e.g., a parent. Conclusion: Using the ques- tionnaire AAS may contribute to identifying victims of intimate partner violence and increasing health care practitioners’ attentiveness concerning the type of injury, frequency of care seeking and actions that may indicate such violence lead to changes of the woman’s situation. * Corresponding author.