Are We Screening the Wrong Person?: A Scoping Review on Screening Men for Perpetration of Intimate Partner Violence [ID 2683612

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: The United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) currently does not recommend screening men for perpetration of intimate partner violence (IPV) because of a lack of evidence. Screening women for victimization of IPV has demonstrated limited effectiveness; screening potential perpetrators may be a more useful strategy for the identification and prevention of IPV. The objective of this study is to determine whether there is sufficient evidence to recommend screening men for perpetration of IPV. METHODS: We performed a scoping review to identify studies that screen for male perpetration of IPV. We included peer-reviewed, full-text English-language studies that screened men for perpetration of IPV or evaluated an IPV screening tool. Review articles, meta-analysis papers, and studies that only screened women were excluded. RESULTS: Of the 834 studies reviewed, the primary objective of 12.1% of studies was determining the prevalence of male perpetration of IPV. The most commonly used screening tools for IPV were the Conflict Tactic Scale (CTS) (23.1%) or CTS-2 (29.0%). The 10th to 90th percentile of reported physical IPV perpetration ranged from 8.10% to 44.40% with a median of 21.80%. CONCLUSION: There is an abundance of studies examining male perpetration of IPV, and most use the CTS or CTS-2. These studies indicate that it is feasible to assess men for perpetration of IPV; however, the length of the available questionnaires is prohibitive toward use in a medical setting. We recommend a shorter version of the CTS-2 be developed and validated for use in clinical settings.