Primary prevention includes assertive actions at the societal level directed toward eliminating the sex-role bias that allows and encourages violence against women, as well as interventions with women at risk of being battered. Secondary prevention necessitates active case-finding. A direct, knowledgeable, and empathetic approach to women suspected of being abused is important in this regard. Nursing interventions at the secondary prevention level are aimed at eliminating the abuse before the patterns become entrenched. These interventions are carried out in a variety of settings and follow the theoretical framework of accepting the woman where she is in her progress through the grief process, which is a reaction to multiple losses. Tertiary level nursing care may find the nurse providing professional care in wife abuse shelters in a variety of roles or in community or inpatient mental health services. Nursing care at the secondary and tertiary levels also includes advocacy for better services for both the battered woman and her spouse. A sample of the nursing process in a hypothetical case of wife abuse is provided. Tables and 37 notes are given. (Author summary modified)