Barriers to seeking help among abused Iranian women.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to identify barriers to seeking help among abused Iranian women.Design/methodology/approach This qualitative research was carried out using content analysis approach. The participants were 24 married women who were selected from health care centers, recreational centers, and two universities in Tehran, Iran. Semi-structured interviews were used to collect the data.Findings During data analysis, four themes emerged that explained barriers to seeking help in the participants: “fear of negative consequences of help-seeking,” “lack of resources,” “beliefs and attitudes,” and “indirect experiences of not being supported.”Originality/value This study has practice and policy implications for promoting help-seeking among abused women. Based on the results, to promote help-seeking, intervention plans must focus on empowering women to improve their education and employment, eliminating attitudes and beliefs hindering help-seeking, and fortifying formal and informal support systems for abused women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]