Brief intervention for perpetration of intimate partner violence (IPV): simulation versus instruction alone.

Objective: To compare two brief randomized computer-based interventions about perpetration of intimate partner violence (IPV).

Methods: The study was a prospective cross-sectional cohort study of patients during randomized 4-hour shifts in an urban hospital-based emergency department setting with an emergency medicine residency. The site is a level 1 trauma center emergency department with an annual census of 60,000 adults.

Adult intimate partner violence perpetrators are significantly more likely to have witnessed intimate partner violence as a child than nonperpetrators.

Background: In a previous study, no association was found between intimate partner violence (IPV) victims and being an adult who witnessed IPV as a child (ACW).

Objective: The objective of the present study was to determine whether perpetrators of IPV (Perps) could be identified in a busy emergency department (ED) and whether Perps were more likely than non-Perps to be ACWs. The hypothesis was that Perps differed significantly from non-Perps in being ACWs, in being victims of IPV, and in demographics.