The Rural Ecological Framework of Intimate Partner Violence (RE‐IPV): Social–Ecological Factors and Constrained Agency Among Rural Women

ABSTRACT

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a pervasive public health crisis, with rural social and structural conditions creating additional challenges for survivors seeking safety and support. Existing applications of the Social–Ecological Model (SEM) have helped identify factors influencing IPV, but offer less explanation about how these factors interact to constrain survivors' agency and shape service navigation. This paper introduces the Rural Ecological Framework of Intimate Partner Violence (RE‐IPV), a conceptual framework informed by the SEM, structural violence perspectives, and a synthesis of empirical literature, with refinement through engagement with rural community partners, nurse scholars, and public health scientists. RE‐IPV illustrates how interacting societal, community, relational, and individual conditions shape the options available for rural women experiencing IPV. Central to the framework is constrained agency, which helps explain how survivors make decisions about safety, disclosure, and service utilization within circumstances that limit their available options. The framework also conceptualizes service navigation as a recursive process in which healthcare and advocacy encounters can influence survivors' trust, perceptions of safety, and subsequent help‐seeking decisions. By moving beyond a descriptive categorization of ecological barriers, RE‐IPV offers a rural‐specific perspective on how structural conditions shape survivors' agency and engagement with services. The framework provides a foundation for future conceptual development, empirical examination, and survivor‐centered nursing and healthcare practice.

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