Validity of the brief inpatient screen for intimate partner violence among adult women.

Background: Identifying intimate partner violence in healthcare settings is becoming the standard of care. The Brief Inpatient Screen was designed to assess recent emotional, physical, and sexual abuse in a general inpatient medical-surgical setting and compared to the Composite Abuse Scale.

Methods: Researchers matched "cases" (inpatients screening Brief Inpatient Screen-positive) to up to four "controls" (inpatients screening Brief Inpatient Screen-negative). Forty-six female hospital inpatients ages 18-64 years completed a self-administered survey. The sensitivity and specificity of the Brief Inpatient Screen and its subscales were compared to the Composite Abuse Scale. Researchers examined the performance of the Brief Inpatient Screen when used as a verbal screen versus an anonymous written screen.

Results: Twelve of 46 participants (26%) had a positive screen. Compared to the Composite Abuse Scale, the overall sensitivity and specificity of the verbal Brief Inpatient Screen were 52.6% (95% CI 28.9-75.6) and 92.6% (95% CI 75.7-99.1), respectively. The written Brief Inpatient Screen showed improved sensitivity overall (68.4%, 95% CI 43.5-87.4) for the most severe intimate partner violence. Subscale analysis revealed greater sensitivity for emotional and severe combined intimate partner violence.

Conclusions: The verbal Brief Inpatient Screen, when compared to the Composite Abuse Scale, was limited in its ability to identify intimate partner violence. An anonymous written format improved sensitivity. Future research should optimize intimate partner violence screening among inpatients.