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Development of a Screening Instrument to Detect Physical Abuse and its Use in a Cohort of Pregnant Women in Sri Lanka

School of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, La Trobe University, Bundoora, Australia, loshan{at}msn.com

L.C. Rajapaksa, MSc, MD

Department of Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo, Colombo, Sri Lanka

G. Samarasinghe, MSc, PhD

Department of Sociology, Faculty of Arts, University of Colombo, Colombo, Sri Lanka

The objective of this study was to develop and validate a screening instrument (Abuse Assessment Questionnaire) to estimate the prevalence of physical abuse in a cohort of pregnant women in a district of Sri Lanka. The samples of 1200 pregnant women were identified by using a cluster sampling technique. Public health midwives (primary healthcare workers) were selected as interviewers and the antenatal clinic was identified as the setting to identify physical abuse. The reliability and validity (sensitivity 85.7%; specificity 89.7%) of the screening instrument proved to be high. The prevalence of physical abuse in categories 'ever-abuse', 'current abuse' and 'current pregnancy' were 18.3%, 10.6% and 4.7% respectively. In addition, 'current sexual abuse' was reported by 2.7% of women. The prevalence rates indicate that the physical abuse of women is a significant public health problem. The Abuse Assessment Questionnaire, administered by public health midwives, proved valuable in detecting physical abuse in pregnant women. If this instrument is used universally to screen Lankan women for physical abuse in antenatal clinics, it has good potential for early detection and intervention. Asia Pac J Public Health 2004; 16(2): 138-144.

Key Words: Physical abuse • sexual abuse • bodily harm • domestic violence • violence against women.

Asia-Pacific Journal of Public Health, Vol. 16, No. 2, 138-143 (2004)
DOI: 10.1177/101053950401600211


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