First and foremost, what kind of .380 do you have? I ask this because .380's come in a wide variety of sizes these days and knowing what sort of gun your wife is having trouble with will help us to better understand her skill level. You wife not shooting well with a Ruger LCP or S&W Bodyguard would not be surprising since even experienced shooters can have trouble shooting such guns well. If you wife can't shoot well with a Beretta 86 or CZ-83, however, then she's probably got more serious issues.
Secondly, please don't fall into the trap of thinking that the Taurus Judge and other .410 revolvers are some sort of "pocket shotgun" because they most certainly aren't. First of all, .410 is pretty much the bottom rung of the commonly available shotgun scale and simply doesn't offer the variety of good self defense loadings that the larger gauges do (though this situation has somewhat improved over the last few years). Also, unlike what Hollywood has led many to believe, shotguns still need to be aimed rather than pointed in the general direction of the threat. Compounding this, most people will shoot a real shotgun with a buttstock and longer sight radius much better and more easily than a handgun like the Judge. If you really want a .410 for home defense, the best is probably the Mossberg HS410 mentioned earlier though I think that even something like the Stoeger Coach Gun would be better than a Taurus Judge.
http://www.mossberg.com/product/500-hs410-home-security-6-shot-50359/
http://www.stoegerindustries.com/coach-guns-single-and-double-trigger-shotguns
If you want a revolver, it's really hard to go wrong with a good S&W K-Frame like the Model 10 previously mentioned though a Model 13, 14, 15, 19, 64, 65, 66, or 67 would be an equally good choice. The K-Frame seems to be something of a Goldilocks of DA revolvers in that it's usually small enough to fit people with small hands well, but still big enough for people with large hands depending on what type of grips one puts on the gun. While some of the aforementioned models are chambered for .357 Magnum (M13, 19, 65, and 66) they will still chamber and fire .38 Special ammunition just fine and that caliber would probably be preferable for a recoil sensitive shooter.
The K-Frames also generally have smoother and lighter triggers than smaller-frame revolvers because their larger and heavier hammers don't require as heavy a mainspring to reliably ignite primers. They are also generally heavy enough to dampen .38 Special recoil well, but not so heavy as to be tiresome to hold and shoot for people with limited arm strength. While barrels as short as 2" and as long as 8 3/8" are available depending on the model, 4" and 6" barrels are the most common and affordable and probably the best choices for a dedicated home defense gun.
