Developing a Screening Tool for Mental Health Professionals for Measuring Intimate Partner Violence among Women with Mental Illness at Tertiary Care Setting.

Abstract

Background Intimate partner violence (IPV) is the major public health issue seen in all cultures. Mental health professionals play a significant role in screening IPV and providing needed care and support to the survivors. There is a dearth of scale to measure comprehensively different dimensions of violence. The study aimed to develop a screening tool for measuring IPV among women with mental illness (WwMI) in India. Methods The newly developed IPV scale was administered to 200 WwMI at a tertiary care hospital. Results The factor analysis revealed four factors constituted 67.15% of the variance. The internal consistency Cronbach's α (0.92) and split-half reliability coefficient value (0.80) for the final 31-item IPV scale were found to be highly adequate and reliable. Conclusion Psychometric properties of scale found to be an effective tool for screening IPV among WwMI by mental health professionals and planning effective intervention strategies to prevent the IPV.