Jornal Internacional de Medicina Física e Reabilitação
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Investigating the Reliability and Validity of a Newly Developed Intimate Partner Violence Screening Tool for use in Physical Therapy Practice

Lori Maria Walton, Bassima Schbley, Faith Muvuti, Sarah Milliner and Najah Zaaeed

We conducted a study to investigate the reliability and validity of a newly developed Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) Screening Tool. The literature shows that victims of intimate partner violence identify health-care practitioners as potential sources of support. Meanwhile health care professionals are often unprepared to identify and help victims appropriately. Our survey addressed psychosocial, socio-economic and physical constructs influencing prevalence and screening accuracy for IPV. Four experts in the fields of social sciences, education, and physical therapy gave feedback on the survey content validity. A rubric was designed to determine construct validity and inter-rater reliability. The new IPV screening tool was shown to have strong inter-rater reliability (ICC=0.71, p<0.001), internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha=0.80-1.0 for all constructs, p<0.001), construct validity, concurrent validity, and percent agreement (88.9-100%) among an expert panel of four qualified health professionals, including two licensed physical therapists and two licensed social workers with expertise in women’s health issues. The results of this study suggest the newly developed IPV Screening Tool for Physical Therapists to hold a strong content and construct validity, strong internal consistency, and strong inter-rater reliability and percent agreement between experts. Future research should focus on pilot testing for clinical utilization with feedback from both clinicians and patients regarding application.