Intimate partner violence and the power of love: A qualitative systematic review

Abstract

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a crime encompassing physical, psychological, financial, emotional, and sexual abuse by a current or former partner. The presence of love in abusive relationships tends to be marginalized in healthcare discourses. The authors' aim in this qualitative systematic literature review was to explore the interplay between IPV and romantic love and their impacts on women. The review provides a rare (but much needed) explanation and acknowledgement that love does sometimes exist in abusive relationships. These insights will assist healthcare workers in offering empathic care to women, based on understandings of the complex and highly unsettled nature of love in abusive relationships.

Acknowledgments

Thank you to Professor Julie Taylor and Alistair Hewison from the University of Birmingham for being a critical reader.