Does Routine Screening for Intimate Partner Violence Against Women in Health Care Settings do More Good Than Harm?

If, When and How to Ask the Question(s): Assessing Screening Approaches to Identifying Woman Abuse in Health Care Settings

The purpose of the research is to evaluate whether routine screening for woman abuse in health care settings, as compared to no screening, does more good than harm. Recent reviews have identified the need for high quality research to understand 1) the actual impact on all women of instituting mass screening procedures to identify woman abuse and 2) the extent to which early identification through screening is effective in preventing or ameliorating important outcomes. The main outcomes for the study are reduction in violence, improvement in life quality, and potential harms of screening. A number of secondary outcomes to help understand the process by which screening and usual care might lead to changes in the primary outcomes will also be assessed.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Women aged 18-64 years
• Patients at the health care site
• Able to participate in English
• Able to separate from accompanying person(s)

Exclusion Criteria:

• Too ill to participate
• Unable to separate from accompanying person(s)
• Unable to speak, read, or write English