Abstract
Background: A number of medical practice guidelines and recommendations call for screening adult patients for a history of physical or sexual abuse in childhood, but no brief screening tools exist. The objective of this study was to assess the accuracy of a two-item screener for physical or sexual abuse in childhood. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study of randomly selected women (aged 18-65 years) from a large health maintenance organization. One thousand two hundred twenty-five patients were administered a questionnaire, which included two items in a brief screener: (a) "When I was growing up, people in my family hit me so hard that it left me with bruises or marks" and (b) "When I was growing up, someone tried to touch me in a sexual way or tried to make me touch them." A subset of 216 patients completed a semistructured interview for a history of physical or sexual abuse in childhood. Results: The two-item screener was sensitive (84.8%) and specific (88.1%) for detecting a history of physical or sexual abuse in childhood, as determined by the semistructured interview. Conclusions: The two-item screener provides an accurate tool, which is easily integrated into a comprehensive health questionnaire or administered verbally by a clinician, to assess for history of abuse.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 8-13 |
| Number of pages | 6 |
| Journal | General Hospital Psychiatry |
| Volume | 29 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jan 2007 |
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Keywords
- Childhood
- Physical or sexual abuse
- Two-item screener
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Emergency Medicine
- Medicine(all)
- Psychiatry and Mental health
Cite this
A brief two-item screener for detecting a history of physical or sexual abuse in childhood. / Thombs, Brett D.; Bernstein, David P.; Ziegelstein, Roy; Bennett, Wendy; Walker, Edward A.
In: General Hospital Psychiatry, Vol. 29, No. 1, 01.2007, p. 8-13.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - A brief two-item screener for detecting a history of physical or sexual abuse in childhood
AU - Thombs, Brett D.
AU - Bernstein, David P.
AU - Ziegelstein, Roy
AU - Bennett, Wendy
AU - Walker, Edward A.
PY - 2007/1
Y1 - 2007/1
N2 - Background: A number of medical practice guidelines and recommendations call for screening adult patients for a history of physical or sexual abuse in childhood, but no brief screening tools exist. The objective of this study was to assess the accuracy of a two-item screener for physical or sexual abuse in childhood. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study of randomly selected women (aged 18-65 years) from a large health maintenance organization. One thousand two hundred twenty-five patients were administered a questionnaire, which included two items in a brief screener: (a) "When I was growing up, people in my family hit me so hard that it left me with bruises or marks" and (b) "When I was growing up, someone tried to touch me in a sexual way or tried to make me touch them." A subset of 216 patients completed a semistructured interview for a history of physical or sexual abuse in childhood. Results: The two-item screener was sensitive (84.8%) and specific (88.1%) for detecting a history of physical or sexual abuse in childhood, as determined by the semistructured interview. Conclusions: The two-item screener provides an accurate tool, which is easily integrated into a comprehensive health questionnaire or administered verbally by a clinician, to assess for history of abuse.
AB - Background: A number of medical practice guidelines and recommendations call for screening adult patients for a history of physical or sexual abuse in childhood, but no brief screening tools exist. The objective of this study was to assess the accuracy of a two-item screener for physical or sexual abuse in childhood. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study of randomly selected women (aged 18-65 years) from a large health maintenance organization. One thousand two hundred twenty-five patients were administered a questionnaire, which included two items in a brief screener: (a) "When I was growing up, people in my family hit me so hard that it left me with bruises or marks" and (b) "When I was growing up, someone tried to touch me in a sexual way or tried to make me touch them." A subset of 216 patients completed a semistructured interview for a history of physical or sexual abuse in childhood. Results: The two-item screener was sensitive (84.8%) and specific (88.1%) for detecting a history of physical or sexual abuse in childhood, as determined by the semistructured interview. Conclusions: The two-item screener provides an accurate tool, which is easily integrated into a comprehensive health questionnaire or administered verbally by a clinician, to assess for history of abuse.
KW - Childhood
KW - Physical or sexual abuse
KW - Two-item screener
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=33845638766&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=33845638766&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.genhosppsych.2006.10.013
DO - 10.1016/j.genhosppsych.2006.10.013
M3 - Article
C2 - 17189738
AN - SCOPUS:33845638766
VL - 29
SP - 8
EP - 13
JO - General Hospital Psychiatry
JF - General Hospital Psychiatry
SN - 0163-8343
IS - 1
ER -