Validation of the HITS domestic violence screening tool with males

Amer Shakil, Smith Donald, James M. Sinacore, Martin Krepcho

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

54 Scopus citations

Abstract

Background and Objectives: To date, screening tools for domestic violence have been validated only for use with female patients. A four-item HITS (Hurt-Insult-Threaten-Scream) screening tool is one of those instruments. The purpose of the current research was to validate the HITS screening tool in a population of male patients. Methods: In Phase I of the study, 78 non-victim male subjects from an ambulatory clinic, a Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) clinic, or emergency room completed the HITS and the Conflict Tactics Scale to establish the concurrent validity of the HITS. In Phase II, Optimal Data Analysis® (ODA) was used to establish the construct validity of the HITS by identifying the score that reliably differentiated Phase I non-victims from 17 self-identified male victims of domestic violence. Results: Concurrent validity of the HITS was good. ODA found that the score of 11 on the HITS differentiated between non-victims and victims. Sensitivity and specificity were 88% and 97%, respectively. Predictive values were 97% for non-victims and 88% for victims. The positive and negative likelihood ratios were 34.41 and 0.12, respectively. Conclusions: HITS differentiated between male victimized respondents from non-victims in clinical settings.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)193-198
Number of pages6
JournalFamily medicine
Volume37
Issue number3
StatePublished - Mar 2005

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Family Practice

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