RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Screening for abuse in Spanish-speaking women.
JF The Journal of the American Board of Family Practice
JO J Am Board Fam Med
FD American Board of Family Medicine
SP 101
OP 111
VO 15
IS 2
A1 Fogarty, Colleen T
A1 Brown, Judith Belle
YR 2002
UL http://www.jabfm.org/content/15/2/101.abstract
AB BACKGROUND Domestic violence is a major personal and public health concern affecting women of all walks of life. Physicians have reported the need for screening instruments to help recognize abuse; several have been validated in English. No screening tools thus far have been validated in other languages.METHODS We translated a previously validated tool, the Woman Abuse Screening Tool (WAST), into Spanish. To assess for validity, we compared responses of Spanish-speaking abused and nonabused respondents drawn from a community health center and a battered women's shelter. There were 27 women in the abused group and 34 women in the nonabused comparison group.RESULTS The scale was found to be reliable with a Cronbach alpha of 0.91. The mean WAST Spanish scores were significantly different between the two groups, indicating this tool would be a valid screening instrument. A short form using the two most reliable questions was developed as a more rapid screening tool for office use, achieving a specificity of 94% and a sensitivity of 89%.CONCLUSIONS The Spanish version of the WAST successfully discriminated between Spanish-speaking nonabused and abused women. The short form might help physicians reliably screen for abuse in Spanish-speaking women.