Background: Violence against women is a major global health issue. During 2020, a total of 23 200 women were victims of abuse by a familiar person. Violence has an impact on women and can lead to health problems with psychological and physical consequences. In addition to having a negative effect on health, violence in close relationships can result in fatal consequences.

Aim: Experiences of abused women in encounters with healthcare staff.

Method: A literature-based study with eight qualitative studies. Analysis of these articles resulted in one main theme, containing four subthemes.

Results: Many women did not receive help. They felt that healthcare staff did not show any interest, nor were they taken seriously due to healthcare staff rushing through the meeting with an unpleasing attitude. Abused women felt like a burden. Few women received good responses from healthcare staff. In those cases, they had been asked about the abuse and been given time to talk and ventilate their emotions.

Conclusion: Women who have been victims of violence had a bad experience with healthcare staff due to lack of time. They wanted the healthcare staff to ask them about the abuse they had encountered since they found it difficult to reveal by themselves. Healthcare staff need to acquire more knowledge regarding intimate partner violence and gain information on how to meet and bestow the right help to these women who have been subjected to abuse.