Abstract
Background: While public health leaders recommend screening for partner violence,
the predictive value of this practice is unknown. The purpose of this study was to
test the ability of a brief three-question violence screen to predict violence against
women in the ensuing months.
Methods: We conducted a prospective cohort study of adult women participating in the
Colorado Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), a population-based, random-digit-dialing
telephone survey. During 8 monthly cohorts, 695 women participated in the BRFSS; 409
women participated in follow-up telephone interviews approximately 4 months later.
Violent events during the follow-up period, measured using a modified 28-item Conflict
Tactics Scale, were compared between women who initially screened positive and those
who screened negative.
Results: Among BRFSS respondents, 8.4% (95% confidence interval [CI]=6.3%–10.5%) had
an initial positive screen. During the follow-up period, women who screened positive
were 46.5 times (5.4–405) more likely to experience severe physical violence, 11.7
times (5.0– 27.3) more likely to experience physical violence, 3.6 (2.4–5.2) times
more likely to experience verbal aggression, and 2.5 times (1.2–5.1) more likely to
experience sexual coercion. In a multivariate model, separation from one’s spouse
and a positive screen were significant independent predictors of physical violence.
Conclusions: A brief violence screen identifies a subset of women at high risk for
verbal, physical, and sexual partner abuse over the following 4 months. Women with
a positive screen who are separated from their spouse are at highest risk.
Keywords
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© 2001 American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
