Violence and fear for life seen in women from Jalisco who are abused by their partners [Violencia y temor por la vida en mujeres jaliscienses violentadas por su pareja intima]

Introduction Data on the attention paid to the needs of the victims of gender violence in their personal relationships with their partners do not take generally into account the variables affecting the service. These aspects have been defined in the General Law of Access to Violence-Free Life where the first step would be to learn about rather than to ignore the realities. Objectives To present the aspects of violence on the part of a sexual partner in the personal relationships of a couple and the request for help in a group of women living in the metropolitan area of Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico. Methods A cross-sectional quantitative study was conducted. The instrument was semi-structured interview made to 204 women who went to several institutions of the metropolitan area to state that they had been abused by their partners. Results Psychological violence prevailed in 98 % of women whereas oral aggression was more frequent in 97.1 %. A high percentage of battered women, regardless of the coercitive means used by the partner, feared for their lives. Additionally, 67.7 % of women neither asked for help nor reported the violent action. Conclusions In the metropolitan area of Guadalajara, there exists a significant number of women who feared for their personal relationships in their houses; they have lacked support and personal resources to get out of their abusive environment and to report these actions. This violence also brings about more health problems for the females, in terms of physical condition, integration and social adaptation