A Validated Screening Instrument for Identifying Intimate Partner Violence in South Asian Immigrant Women.

Intimate partner violence (IPV) for South Asian immigrants is prevalent and has many unique sociodemographic and cultural factors associated with it. Current screening instruments do not address the unique cultural factors associated with IPV in this population. The South Asian Violence Screen (SAVS) is a 14-item screening tool for IPV designed based on the specific demographic and cultural issues affecting South Asian immigrant women in the United States. The tool was validated using the Index of Spouse Abuse (ISA), a well-established survey instrument for detecting IPV. The participants in the study included 116 South Asian immigrant women, who were recruited from a medical clinic and two community centers in Chicago, IL. With a prevalence of 23.3% of women reporting physical abuse and 28.4% reporting nonphysical abuse, the negative predictive value of the SAVS compared with the ISA was 0.99 and 0.97 for physical abuse and nonphysical abuse, respectively. When compared with the ISA-physical, the sensitivity and specificity were 0.96 and 0.87, respectively, and when compared with the ISA-nonphysical, the sensitivity and specificity were 0.94 and 0.92, respectively. This study demonstrates that the SAVS is an effective and efficient screening tool in the South Asian immigrant population in Chicago.

Detection of intimate partner violence in a general medicine practice.

In this study, an assessment phase is undertaken to determine intimate partner violence (IPV) prevalence. An anonymous survey is followed by a chart review documenting identification of IPV. Two methods are attempted to increase assessment/documentation of IPV: a physician educational intervention and a nursing routine inquiry intervention in one quadrant of the practice. The IPV physician educational intervention includes didactic sessions, an IPV counselor, and resource information. The routine inquiry intervention involves nurses screening female patients for IPV at check-in. IPV is found to be prevalent in a general medicine clinic. An enhanced educational intervention does not increase IPV documentation. A routine inquiry intervention significantly increases documentation of lifetime IPV but does not impact current IPV identification.