Intimate partner violence risk assessment in community health facilities: A multisite longitudinal study

ARBACH, KARIN; BOBBIO, ANTONELLA

Psychosocial intervention

Elsevier

Lugar: Madrid; Año: 2018 vol. 27 p. 105 - 112

1132-0559

The remarkable development of tools for the structured assessment of violentreoffending of intimate partner aggressors coexists with a relative scarcity of toolsadapted for the diversity of community facilities for women who suffer intimate partnerviolence (IPV). This situation prompted the development of the RVD-Bcn in Catalonia(Spain). The present multisite prospective study tests the predictive validity of this toolfor IPV risk assessment in a sample different to the original. Trained assessorsinterviewed 321 women in five community health facilities in Córdoba (Argentina). 230of them completed a follow-up that ranged from 47 to 311 days. Incidents of physicalIPV were recorded prospectively. Rates of IPV in the low-, moderate- and high-riskgroups were 10, 57 and 33 percent, respectively. The summary risk ratings weresignificantly associated with the occurrence of violence, as were RVD scores. Low-riskparticipants not only suffered fewer IPV events than participants in the moderate- andhigh-risk group, but also suffered them later in time. The most accurate predictivemodel of IPV included total scores and a dichotomised variable of low vs moderatehighsummary risk rating. Findings contribute to the emerging practice of includingstructured violence risk assessment in Latin-American professional contexts andinstitutions.