Using Indirect Questions to Detect Intimate Partner Violence
- Resource Type
- Authors
- J. Kevin Dorsey; Jill A. Young; Steven Verhulst; Jamie L. Fulfer; Natalie J. S. Choi; Regina Kovach; Jillian J. Tyler
- Source
- Journal of Interpersonal Violence. 22:238-249
- Subject
- Adult
medicine.medical_specialty
Psychometrics
education
Abusive relationship
Population
Poison control
Risk Assessment
Sensitivity and Specificity
Suicide prevention
Occupational safety and health
Surveys and Questionnaires
Injury prevention
Humans
Medicine
0501 psychology and cognitive sciences
Medical History Taking
music
Applied Psychology
education.field_of_study
Chi-Square Distribution
music.instrument
business.industry
Battered Women
050901 criminology
05 social sciences
Professional-Patient Relations
social sciences
Emergency department
medicine.disease
humanities
Clinical Psychology
Cross-Sectional Studies
Family medicine
Spouse Abuse
Women's Health
Domestic violence
Female
Medical emergency
0509 other social sciences
Emergency Service, Hospital
business
050104 developmental & child psychology
- Language
- ISSN
- 1552-6518
0886-2605
A screening instrument for detecting intimate partner violence (IPV) was developed using indirect questions. The authors identified 5 of 18 items studied that clearly distinguished victims of IPV from a random group of health conference attendees with a sensitivity of 85% and a specificity of 87%. This 5-item instrument (SAFE-T) was then tested on 435 women presenting to three emergency departments and the results compared to a direct question regarding current abuse. The SAFE-T questions detected only 54% of the women who admitted being abused and correctly classified 81% of the women who said they were not victims. The 1-year prevalence of IPV in this sample of women presenting to an emergency department was 11.6%. The authors conclude that indirect questioning of women appears to be more effective at ruling out IPV in an emergency department population and may be less useful for women “early” in an abusive relationship.