Citation

Fogarty CT, Brown JB. J. Am. Board Fam. Pract. 2002; 15(2): 101-111.

Affiliation

Department of Family Medicine (CTF), Boston University School of Medicine, MA 02118-2393, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2002, American Board of Family Practice)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

12002193

Abstract

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.

Language: en