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Paige Hall Smith, PhD, MPH, Department of Public Health, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, PO Box 26170, Greensboro, NC 27402, 336-334-5520, phsmith@uncg.edu, Ann Coker, PhD, School of Public Health, University of Texas, PO Box 20186, Houston, TX 77225, Vicki Flerx, PhD, Institute for Families in Society, University of South Carolina, Carolina Plaza, Columbia, SC 29208, and Daniel Whitaker, PhD, Division of Violence Prevention, Centers for Disease Control, 4770 Buford Highway NE, Atlanta, GA 30341.
As part of a 5 year study to evaluate two clinic-based interventions for victims of intimate partner violence (IPV), nurses at six clinics in South Carolina implemented screening of women ages 18 and older using a dichotomous-version of the Women’s Experiences with Battering (WEB) Scale plus questions to assess current or recent physical and sexual IPV. This paper describes the development of, and rationale for, our screening instrument, which is designed to identify both battering and physical assault. Prior research with battered women suggests that battering and physical assault are conceptually distinct. Battering has been described as an enduring, continuous condition, as opposed to a set of discrete assaultive events, and is thought to be more about the entrapment and disempowerment of women than just about hitting. To the extent that they are empirically different as well, then just asking questions about physical assault could result in inaccurate measurement and screening. The 10-item WEB Scale was developed in the mid-1990s to measure battering as a distinct type of IPV. The initial validation research was positive and supported the empirical distinction of battering and physical assault. Subsequent use of this scale in both population-based and clinical samples supports the validity of the WEB Scale and indicates that there are important health outcomes associated with both battering and assault. We conclude this presentation by describing how we have adapted the scale for use as a screening tool for clinical settings.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Domestic Violence, Health Care Delivery
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
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.