Introduction: Intimate partner violence is a major public health problem which is under-recognized and under-reported in healthcare settings. A research project to develop a new intimate partner violence screening tool was conducted. Methods: Focus groups helped design a questionnaire known as HITS; The questionnaire had a possible low score of 4 and a maximum score of 20 on a 5 point Likert scale. The written HITS was then self administered to 160 low risk women for internal consistency and concordance validity with the Conflict Tactics scale(CTS). Phase 2 tested HITS, in 99 multicultural women identified as high risk of abuse, for construct validity vs. the earlier low risk group. Phase 3 used item analysis from phases 1 and 2 to design a verbal HITS in yes/no format- Does your partner: 1) Hurt you physically, 2) Insult you often, 3) Threaten you with Physical Harm and 4) Scream at you often. The verbal HITS was then compared to the written form in a third ambulatory low risk population. Results: Phase 1 showed good internal consistency and concurrent validity of HITS to CTS, r=0.85. Phase 2 derived construct validity, by establishing a cut score which reliably discriminated women at risk of abuse from the lower risk group, cut score=10.5. Phase 3, the verbal HITS compared favorably to the written form,N=103;r > 0.87;p<.0005. Conclusion: HITS shows promise of being a rapid screening tool for intimate partner violence screening. Further studies in other populations are warranted.
Learning Objectives: Participants will be provided with a rapid screening tool for Healthcare settings which diferrentiates groups at high risk from those at low risk for intimate partner violence
Keywords: Violence, Injury Control
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.