title: Randomized comparison of 3 methods to screen for domestic violence in family practice.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We undertook a study to compare 3 ways of administering brief domestic violence screening questionnaires: self-administered questionnaire, medical staff interview, and physician interview.
  
  
  METHODS
  We conducted a randomized trial of 3 screening protocols for domestic violence in 4 urban family medicine practices with mostly minority patients. We randomly assigned 523 female patients, aged 18 years or older and currently involved with a partner, to 1 of 3 screening protocols. Each included 2 brief screening tools: HITS and WAST-Short. Outcome measures were domestic violence disclosure, patient and clinician comfort with the screening, and time spent screening.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Overall prevalence of domestic violence was 14%. Most patients (93.4%) and clinicians (84.5%) were comfortable with the screening questions and method of administering them. Average time spent screening was 4.4 minutes. Disclosure rates, patient and clinician comfort with screening, and time spent screening were similar among the 3 protocols. In addition, WAST-Short was validated in this sample of minority women by comparison with HITS and with the 8-item WAST.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Domestic violence is common, and we found that most patients and clinicians are comfortable with domestic violence screening in urban family medicine settings. Patient self-administered domestic violence screening is as effective as clinician interview in terms of disclosure, comfort, and time spent screening.
authors: Department of Family Medicine, New Jersey Medical School, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Newark, NJ 07103, USA. chenpi@umdnj.edu
authors: Ping-Hsin
authors: PH
authors: Chen
authors: Sue
authors: S
authors: Rovi
authors: Judy
authors: J
authors: Washington
authors: Abbie
authors: A
authors: Jacobs
authors: Marielos
authors: M
authors: Vega
authors: Ko-Yu
authors: KY
authors: Pan
authors: Mark S
authors: MS
authors: Johnson
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D002985:Clinical Protocols; D017579:Domestic Violence / Q000517:prevention & control*; D005194:Family Practice / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D015203:Reproducibility of Results