title: Domestic abuse in pregnancy: A comparison of a self-completed domestic abuse questionnaire with a directed interview.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of this study was to compare the results of a standardized self-completed domestic abuse questionnaire with those of a directed interview in the identification of domestic abuse in pregnant patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  All patients with a first prenatal visit between March 1 and September 30, 1997, were assessed for self-reported domestic abuse with a standardized domestic abuse questionnaire. This was followed by a directed interview that involved verbal review of the standardized domestic abuse questionnaire. Self-reported domestic abuse was defined as any positive response to the domestic abuse questionnaire or the directed interview. The number of patients with a positive response to either the standardized questionnaire or the directed interview, or both, were recorded. The 2 techniques were compared by the McNemar chi(2) test. The group demographics and characteristics were evaluated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Among the 224 patients evaluated, a total of 36% (n = 80) of the patients reported domestic abuse by either method. The standardized domestic abuse questionnaire identified 85% (n = 68) compared with 59% (n = 47) by a directed interview (P =.03). The use of the standardized domestic abuse questionnaire and the directed interview in parallel identified an additional 15% (n = 12) of patients with domestic abuse.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A standardized domestic abuse questionnaire is superior to a directed interview in identifying self-reported domestic abuse in pregnancy. Utilizing both methods in parallel further increases the number of patients identified.
authors.affiliation: Division of Maternal-Fetal Medicine, Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School/St Peter's University Hospital, New Brunswick 07753, USA.
authors.forename: J C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Canterino
authors.forename: L G
authors.initials: LG
authors.lastname: VanHorn
authors.forename: J T
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Harrigan
authors.forename: C V
authors.initials: CV
authors.lastname: Ananth
authors.forename: A M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Vintzileos
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D018585:Battered Women / Q000523:psychology; D005006:Ethnicity; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D011247:Pregnancy / Q000523:psychology; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012647:Self-Assessment; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires