Identifying Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) during the postpartum period in a Greek sample

Abstract

Research has highlighted the wide impact of intimate partner violence (IPV) and the public health role of community health professionals in detection of victimized women. The purpose of this study was to identify postpartum emotional and physical abuse and to validate the Greek version of the Women Abuse Screening Tool (WAST) along with its sensitivity and specificity. Five hundred seventy-nine mothers within 12 weeks postpartum were recruited from the perinatal care registers of the Maternity Departments of two public hospitals in Athens, Greece. Participants were randomly selected by clinic or shift. The WAST and the Partner Violence Screen (PVS) surveys were administered in random order to the mothers from September 2007 to January 2008. The WAST was compared with the PVS as a criterion standard. Agreement between the screening instruments was examined. The psychometric measurements that were performed included: two independent sample t tests, reliability coefficients, explanatory factor analysis using a Varimax rotation, and Principal Components Method. Confirmatory analysis-also called structural equation modeling-of principal components was conducted by Linear Structural Relations. A receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis was carried out to evaluate the global functioning of the scale. Two hundred four (35.6%) of the mothers screened were identified as experiencing IPV. Scores on the WAST correlated well with those on the PVS; the internal consistency of the WAST Greek version-tested using Cronbach's alpha coefficient-was found to be 0.926 and that of Guttman's split-half coefficient was 0.924. Our findings confirm the multidimensionality of the WAST, demonstrating a two-factor structure. The area under ROC curve (AUC) was found to be 0.824, and the logistic estimate for the threshold score of 0/1 fitted the model sensitivity at 99.7% and model specificity at 64.4%. Our data confirm the validity of the Greek version of the WAST in identifying IPV. The validated Greek WAST scale could be used for screening purposes in both clinical practice and research.

Screening for Intimate Partner Violence in Orthopedic Patients

“…Few studies have compared the WAST to the PVS for the purposes of screening for IPV in a health care setting. Vivilaki et al (2010) compared a Greek translation of the WAST to the PVS using a sample of women at a perinatal care clinic in Greece. Using the PVS as a criterion standard, the sensitivity of the WAST was 99.7% and the specificity was 64.4% (Vivilaki et al, 2010).…”

“…The WAST is comprised of eight questions and it was developed to quickly screen for IPV in a busy family medicine setting (Table 1; Brown et al, 1996). This tool has been validated in a family medicine setting (Brown et al, 1996) and has been used in numerous studies in the fields of family medicine (MacMillan et al, 2006; MacMillan, Wathen, & Jamieson, 2009; McCord-Duncan et al, 2006; Wathen, Jamieson, & MacMillan, 2008; Yut-Lin et al, 2008), emergency medicine (Halpern, Susarla, & Dodson, 2005; MacMillan et al, 2006, 2009; Wathen et al, 2008), and perinatal care (Vivilaki et al, 2010). In a recent review of IPV screening tools, the WAST was found to have good internal reliability, and it differentiates women who are victims and those who are not (Rabin, Jennings, Campbell, & Bair-Merritt, 2009).…”

“…The first question addresses physical violence and the second and third questions address feelings of safety (Feldhaus et al, 1997). This tool has been validated in an emergency medicine setting (Feldhaus et al, 1997) and has been used in numerous studies in the fields of family medicine (Halpern et al, 2005; MacMillan et al, 2006; McCord-Duncan et al, 2006), emergency medicine (Halpern et al, 2005; MacMillan et al, 2006), and perinatal care (Vivilaki et al, 2010). Compared to the Index of Spouse Abuse, the PVS had a sensitivity of 64.5% and a specificity of 80.3% (Feldhaus et al, 1997).…”

Stress Management and Health Promotion in a Sample of Women With Intimate Partner Violence: A Randomized Controlled Trial

“…The first three statements aim to verify the existence of IPV, while the goal of the next five statements is to depict which form of abuse is placed upon the woman. This instrument appears to have good psychometric properties—Cronbach’s α: .809 (initial) and .752 (final; WAST; Vivilaki et al, 2010).…”

Coping strategies available for women living with HIV/AIDS experiencing intimate partner violence in the Singida region, Tanzania

“…IPV occurs in all communities and in all types of relationships, and has extensive physical, mental health, social, and economic consequences. [4][5][6][7][8][9][10] IPV continues to be frighteningly common and is unaccepted within many societies. 11 The World Health Organization estimates that 30% of women globally who have been in a relationship have experienced physical or sexual IPV.…”