title: A web-based intervention for abused women: the New Zealand isafe randomised controlled trial protocol.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Intimate partner violence (IPV) and its associated negative mental health consequences are significant for women in New Zealand and internationally. One of the most widely recommended interventions is safety planning. However, few women experiencing violence access specialist services for safety planning. A safety decision aid, weighing the dangers of leaving or staying in an abusive relationship, gives women the opportunity to prioritise, plan and take action to increase safety for themselves and their children. This randomised controlled trial is testing the effectiveness of an innovative, interactive web-based safety decision aid. The trial is an international collaborative concurrent replication of a USA trial (IRIS study NCT01312103), regionalised for the Aotearoa New Zealand culture and offers fully automated online trial recruitment, eligibility screening and consent.
  
  
  METHODS
  In a fully automated web-based trial (isafe) 340 abused women will be randomly assigned in equal numbers to a safety decision aid intervention or usual safety planning control website. Intervention components include: (a) safety priority setting, (b) danger assessment and (c) an individually tailored safety action plan. Self-reported outcome measures are collected at baseline and 3, 6, and 12-months post-baseline. Primary outcomes are depression (measured by Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale, Revised) and IPV exposure (measured by Severity Violence Against Women Scale) at 12 months post-baseline. Secondary outcomes include PTSD, psychological abuse, decisional conflict, safety behaviors and danger in the relationship.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This trial will provide much-needed information on the potential relationships among safety planning, improved mental health, reduced violence as well as decreased decisional conflict related to safety in the abusive relationship. The novel web-based safety decision aid intervention may provide a cost-effective, easily accessed safety-planning resource that can be translated into clinical and community practice by multiple health disciplines and advocates. The trial will also provide information about how women in abusive relationships safely access safety information and resources through the Internet. Finally, the trial will inform other research teams on the feasibility and acceptability of fully automated recruitment, eligibility screening, consent and retention procedures.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  Trial registered on 03 July 2012 on the Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry ACTRN12612000708853 .
authors: Centre for Interdisciplinary Trauma Research, Auckland University of Technology, Private Bag 92006, Auckland, 1142, New Zealand. jane.koziol-mclain@aut.ac.nz.
authors: Jane
authors: J
authors: Koziol-McLain
authors: Faculty of Health and Environmental Sciences, Auckland University of Technology, Auckland, New Zealand and Ko Awatea, Auckland, New Zealand. alain.vandal@aut.ac.nz.
authors: Alain C
authors: AC
authors: Vandal
authors: Department of Preventive and Social Medicine, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand. Shyamala.nada-raja@otago.ac.nz.
authors: Shyamala
authors: S
authors: Nada-Raja
authors: Taupua Waiora Centre for Maori Health Research, Auckland University of Technology, Auckland, New Zealand. dlwilson@aut.ac.nz.
authors: Denise
authors: D
authors: Wilson
authors: School of Nursing, Johns Hopkins University, Maryland, USA. nglass1@jhu.edu.
authors: Nancy E
authors: NE
authors: Glass
authors: Department of Medical Informatics & Clinical Epidemiology Department, Oregon Health & Science University, Oregon, USA. edenk@ohsu.edu.
authors: Karen B
authors: KB
authors: Eden
authors: Centre for Interdisciplinary Trauma Research, Auckland University of Technology, Private Bag 92006, Auckland, 1142, New Zealand. christine.mclean@aut.ac.nz.
authors: Christine
authors: C
authors: McLean
authors: Centre for Interdisciplinary Trauma Research, Auckland University of Technology, Private Bag 92006, Auckland, 1142, New Zealand. terry.dobbs@aut.ac.nz.
authors: Terry
authors: T
authors: Dobbs
authors: James Reed Case Consulting, Oregon, USA. james.case@gmail.com.
authors: James
authors: J
authors: Case
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001315:Australia; D018585:Battered Women / Q000523:psychology*; D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D003657:Decision Making; D003863:Depression / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008603:Mental Health; D008875:Middle Aged; D009520:New Zealand; D012107:Research Design; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012449:Safety; D013179:Spouse Abuse / Q000523:psychology*; D055815:Young Adult
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