Background: Violence in close relationships is a public health and gender equality problem. Previous research shows that nurses experience difficulties in encounters with women who live with intimate partner violence. Therefore, it is important for nurses to be aware of violence in close relationships, how violence affects all aspects of a person and how women should be cared for.

Aim: The nurse's experience of meeting women exposed to intimate partner violence.

Method: A literature-based study based on qualitative research which contribute a greater understanding of a phenomenon. Nine articles analyzed by Friberg (2017) five step model and resulted in three main themes and nine subthemes.

Results: The results are based on three main themes: the nurse´s feeling, the nurse's role and the nurse´s environment, based on nine subthemes. These subthemes show that nurses experience frustration, concern before asking the question of violence and discomfort over the situation. The results also show that nurses have different strategies, different views on responsibility and that social norms and culture play a key part but also that lack of time, training and structures in the workplace as well as routines are of great importance for nurses' experience of meeting women exposed to violence in close relationships.

Conclusion: This study revealed that nurses experience a gap of knowledge and a lack of education when it comes to violence in close relationships. This together with societal norms and culture leads to an experience of insecurity in meeting women who live with violence in close relationships.