Screening for abuse in Spanish-speaking women.
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.
Fogarty
Colleen T
CT
Department of Family Medicine (CTF), Boston University School of Medicine, MA 02118-2393, USA.
Brown
Judith Belle
JB
D000328:Adult; D018585:Battered Women; D003151:Community Health Centers; D017579:Domestic Violence / Q000145:classification / Q000208:ethnology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000379:methods*; D017058:Mexican Americans / Q000145:classification* / Q000523:psychology; D015980:Public Health Practice; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards*; D014175:Translating; D014481:United States; D014932:Women's Health Services