• Christina Nicolaidis, Mary Ann Curry, Yvonne Ulrich, Phyllis Sharps, Judith McFarlane, Doris Campbell, Faye Gary, Kathryn Laughon, Nancy Glass, and Jacquelyn Campbell.
• Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, OR 97239, USA. nicolaid@ohsu.edu
• J Gen Intern Med. 2003 Oct 1; 18 (10): 788-94.

ObjectiveTo examine in-depth the lives of women whose partners attempted to kill them, and to identify patterns that may aid in the clinician's ability to predict, prevent, or counsel about femicide or attempted femicide.DesignQualitative analysis of 30 in-depth interviews.SettingSix U.S. cities.ParticipantsThirty women, aged 17-54 years, who survived an attempted homicide by an intimate partner.ResultsAll but 2 of the participants had previously experienced physical violence, controlling behavior, or both from the partner who attempted to kill them. The intensity of the violence, control, and threats varied greatly, as did the number of risk factors measured by the Danger Assessment, defining a wide spectrum of prior abuse. Approximately half (14/30) of the participants did not recognize that their lives were in danger. Women often focused more on relationship problems involving money, alcohol, drugs, possessiveness, or infidelity, than on the risk to themselves from the violence. The majority of the attempts (22/30) happened around the time of a relationship change, but the relationship was often ending because of problems other than violence.ConclusionsClinicians should not be falsely reassured by a woman's sense of safety, by the lack of a history of severe violence, or by the presence of few classic risk factors for homicide. Efforts to reduce femicide risk that are targeted only at those women seeking help for violence-related problems may miss potential victims.

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