A close friend of yours, a fellow classmate in her second year of nursing clinical, is a 27-year-old mother of a 6-year-old daughter and 7-year-old son. One Sunday morning after a late night study session reviewing together for an upcoming nursing examination, your friend calls your cell phone in hysterics. She is sobbing heavily, making it difficult to understand her at times. Her words are muffled and occasionally mumbled. She asks you to pick her up outside her church. While explaining that her boyfriend beat her and that she is concerned for her own and her childrens safety, her call is abruptly ended with a high-pitched scream on your friends end. You call another classmate, and the two of you and the classmates husband drive to the church parking lot. When you arrive, you are startled by the appearance of your friend. Her face is severely beaten and bloody. Both eyes are blackened, and her nose and jaw are severely swollen. Your friends boyfriend is also at the church. He is obviously angry and upset to see you. He tells you to go home, that this is between him and your friend, and there is no need for you to get involved. You notice the couples two children cowering near the church steps. The boyfriend keeps yelling at your beaten friend that she has shamed him for the last time; that he wont put up with any more of her stuck-up, educated airs. Your friend tells you to go home, that she has brought this upon herself and shouldnt have involved you.
- How would you respond in this situation? What follow-up plans would you make?
- What behavior patterns between the victim and the abuser do you see in this case study?
- What is your major concern for your friend if she chooses to remain in this abusive relationship?
- What community resources would you refer your friend to and why?
