The following three chapters are based on the experiences of women who have experienced domestic violence (stage one participants). They are intended to contextualise the health interaction within the experience of domestic violence and wider help-seeking activities. As such, they address: the impact of physical and non-physical injuries; a variety of treatment experiences; views of the health interaction; and wider experiences of help seeking. It is on the testimonies of these women that Chapters Six to Ten, which relate to responses from health practitioners, should be considered. The chapters in this section are important because they describe in detail how women who experience domestic violence interpret the professional response of the health practitioners they encounter. They also address issues relating to specific types of injury and therefore offer health professionals an understanding of the types of injuries women who experience domestic violence are subjected to. In relation to non-physical injuries, and issues relating to self and identity, the following three chapters also contextualise the participating women's wider interpretations of the responses of ‘others’ to domestic violence.

A large proportion of the oral history narratives conducted with the participating women focused on how they perceived themselves in relation to the domestic violence they had experienced and the helpseeking processes they engaged in (for a more detailed discussion of the research methodology, see Williamson, 1999). This book is concerned specifically with the interaction which occurs between women who have experienced domestic violence and healthcare professionals, and as such there is not the room to examine in depth the subjective histories of the participating women. It was important, however, to contextualise the impact of domestic violence in the participating women's subjectivity, as it was within the context of domestic violence itself that the health interaction took place. How they felt about themselves, the abuse they experienced and the wider help-seeking processes they engaged in constituted a large proportion of the interviews on which this book is based. Various issues emerged within these interviews including: selfblame; self-denial; the unreality of an abusive situation; contradictions of abuse; internalised anger; silence; dislike of confrontations and conflict; fear; triggers to change; re-socialisation as part of the recovery process; the relationships between women who experience domestic violence; issues about male attention; power; suicide; and finally, issues around reproduction.