Identifying Intimate Partner Violence: Comparing the Chinese Abuse Assessment Screen with the Chinese Revised Conflict Tactics Scales

Objective: To assess the measurement accuracy and the utility of the Chinese Abuse Assessment Screen (AAS).

Design: A cross-sectional study.

Setting: An antenatal clinic of a public hospital and a community centre in Hong Kong.

Sample: A total of 257 Chinese women consisting of 100 pregnant women and 157 nonpregnant women.

Method: The Chinese AAS was administered first, followed by the Chinese Revised Conflict Tactics Scales (CTS2). This was performed in the same sitting, and each participant was interviewed once either at an antenatal clinic (for the pregnant women sample) or at a community centre (for the nonpregnant women sample).

Main Outcome Measures: Estimates of the sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values and positive and negative likelihood ratios.

Results: Using the Chinese CTS2 as the standard, the specificity estimates of the Chinese AAS for emotional, physical and sexual abuse were > or = 89%, while the sensitivity estimates varied from 36.3 to 65.8%. The sensitivity improved in the screening for more severe cases (66.7%). The positive predictive values were > or = 80%, and the negative predictive values varied from 66 to 93%. Factors such as the age difference between the couple and the woman's need for financial assistance were found to be associated with intimate partner violence (IPV).

Conclusion: The Chinese AAS has demonstrated satisfactory measurement accuracy and utility for identifying IPV when the Chinese CTS2 was used as the standard.