[Facing violence by intimate partner: the experience of women in an urban area of Northeastern Brazil].

OBJECTIVE To describe the methods of coping adopted by women who have been subject to physical domestic violence. METHODS A cross-sectional study designed to investigate domestic violence was carried out on the baseline data of a cohort study of 1,120 pregnant women in Recife, Northeastern Brazil. A total of 283 women aged 18 to 49, who reported physical violence by their current or most recent partner before and/or during pregnancy and who were enrolled in the Family Health Program, were eligible for this study. Data were collected through face-to-face interviews, involving a structured questionnaire, conducted between July 2005 and March 2006, and descriptive analysis was carried out. Data were gathered on the women's socio-demographic characteristics, the type and scale of the partners' physical violence, the method in which they dealt with the violence, whether help was sought and from whom, whether they had abandoned home due to violence and, if so, whether they had returned. RESULTS Of the women who had suffered domestic violence, 57.6% had talked to someone about it, 3.5% had sought help from an official service or a person in position of authority, 17.3% had talked to someone and sought help from an official service, and 21.6% had not sought any help. Those people whose support was most frequently sought were parents (42%), a friend (31.6%) and brother / sister (21.2%). The services most frequently sought by the women were: police (57.6%), healthcare (27.1%) and religious institutions (25.4%). Of the women, 44.8% reported not having received any type of assistance; 32.1% reported having left home, for at least one night, at some point in their lives. Of these, only 5.9% reported that they did not return home. The reasons for leaving the home included the exacerbation of violence and the fear of being killed. Reasons for returning home: the hope that the partner would change and the desire to preserve the family. CONCLUSIONS Most women who reported domestic violence seek some form of help. The primary social network (family and friends) was that most sought after by women to break the cycle of violence. The results highlight the need for raising awareness of assistance and support services and the importance of increasing and improving public service systems (police, legal, health, psycho-social care) to effectively support women in escaping situations of domestic violence.