A Content Analysis of Intimate Partner Violence Assessments

Abstract

With approximately 30% of individuals of various cultural identities experiencing intimate partner violence (IPV) in their lifetimes, it is imperative that professional counselors engage in effective assessment practices and be aware of the limitations of available IPV assessments. A content analysis of 38 IPV assessments was conducted, yielding seven themes and related limitations: relationship context, forms of abuse, immediate risk indicators, family dynamics, degree of support, assessment structure, and psychometric information. Additionally, global limitations of IPV assessments as well as implications for practice and research are outlined.

Propiedades psicométricas del index of spouse abuse en una muestra de varones españoles

“…Debido a la necesidad de contar con instrumentos de evaluación para detectar el abuso por parte de la pareja (Kapur y Windish, 2011) y a su escasez para evaluar el abuso en hombres (Hays y Emelianchik, 2009;Thompson, et al, 2006) se ha plantado este estudio cuyo objetivo fue analizar algunas propiedades psicométricas del Index of Spouse Abuse (Hudson y McIntosh, 1981) en una muestra de varones españoles. Los resultados muestran una versión compuesta por 30 ítems agrupados en tres factores (Abuso físico, Control de conductas y Abuso físico) con buenos índices de fiabilidad y validez y, por tanto, avalan un instrumento adecuado para la evaluación del abuso de pareja en varones.…”

“…Uno de estos esfuerzos tiene que dirigirse al desarrollo y validación de instrumentos de evaluación de la violencia de pareja, ya que la mayoría de ellos han sido desarrollados para evaluar a las mujeres, siendo más escasos aquellos que evalúan la violencia hacia los hombres (Hays y Emelianchik, 2009;Thompson, basile, Hertz, y Sitterle, 2006). Por ejemplo, el Index of Spouse Abuse (ISA; Hudson y McIntosh, 1981) es uno de los instrumentos de evaluación de la violencia de pareja más empleado (Feldhaus et al, 1997).…”

Conceptualizing acts and behaviours that comprise intimate partner violence: a concept map

“…The limitations of our work include the use of a convenience sample. However, it was our goal to ensure that we had a diverse population and that we did not have an overrepresentation of ‘White women who have some available personal resources’ . Our sample of men was smaller than we had intended as they were harder to recruit and less eager than women to discuss this topic.…”

“…Large‐scale population studies commonly limit measurement of IPV to selected constructs of partner violence and may leave out critical components of IPV (e.g. controlling behaviours) . Use of narrow tools has the potential of underestimating IPV prevalence and fails to capture the full impact of partner violence.…”

“…Much research on measurement of IPV has been conducted with primarily Caucasian populations from the United States as only within the last 15 years have studies included ethno‐racial populations . There is an urgent need to expand conceptualizations and measures of IPV to include the experiences of other ethnic groups as each group varies in their cultural norms and perceptions about domestic violence …”