Abstract
Background: The World Health Organization (WHO) developed an instrument to detect violence against women that has been widely used in several countries. Despite this instrument’s importance in identifying intimate partner violence against women (IPVAW), it has not been adapted for the Spanish population. The aim of this study was to adapt and validate the WHO violence against women instrument in a sample in Spain, facilitating the detection of IPVAW in this context and comparisons between countries. Method: After the instrument was translated and adapted into Spanish, 532 women from the general population in Spain completed it. The initial instrument consisted of 28 items. We deleted three items due to low internal consistency, resulting in 25 items in the final version. Results: Suitable internal consistency was obtained through Confirmatory Factorial Analysis for physical (α = .92), psychological (α = .91), sexual (α = .86), and control behaviors subscales (α = .91) as well as for the total scale (α = .95). The instrument revealed highly prevalent IPVAW in our sample (79.7%). Conclusions: The use of the Spanish version of the WHO violence against women instrument in Spain seems justified.
References
Andalusian School of Public Health (2005). Catálogo de instrumentos para cribado y frecuencia del maltrato físico, psicológico y sexual [Catalog of instruments for screening and frequency of physical, psychological and sexual abuse]. Observatorio de Salud de la Mujer, Ministerio de salud y consumo. https://www.msc.es/organizacion/sns/planCalidadSNS/pdf/equidad/genero_vg_01.pdf
Brown, J. B., Lent, B., Brett, P., Sas, G., & Pederson, L. L. (1996). Development of the woman abuse screening tool for use in family practice. Family Medicine, 28, 422-428. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8791071/
Campbell, J. (2002). Health consequences of intimate partner violence. Lancet, 359, 1331-1336. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0140-6736(02)08336-8
Canterino, J. C., VanHorn, L. G., Harrigan. J. T., Ananth, C. V., & Vintzileos, A. M. (1999). Domestic abuse in pregnancy: A comparison of a self- completed domestic abuse questionnaire with a directed interview. American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, 181, 1049-1051. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0002-9378(99)70079-7
Cho, H., Shamrova, D., Han, J. B., & Levchenko, P. (2020). Patterns of intimate partner violence victimization and survivors’ help-seeking. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 35(21-22), 4558-4582. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260517715027
Devries, K. M., Mak, J. Y., Garcia-Moreno, C., Petzold, M., Child, J. C., Falder, G., Lim, S., Bacchus, L. J., Engell, R. E., Rosenfeld, L., Pallitto, C., Vos, T., Abrahams, N., Watts, C. H. (2013). The global prevalence of intimate partner violence against women. Science, 340, 1527-1528. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1240937
Ellsberg, M., & Heise, L. (2005). Researching violence against women: A practical guide for researchers and activists. World Health Organization. https://apps.who.int/iris/handle/10665/42966
Ellsberg, M., Ugarte, W., Ovince, J., Blackwell, A., & Quintanilla, M. (2016). Long-term change in the prevalence of intimate partner violence: A 20-year follow-up study in León, Nicaragua, 1995-2016. BMJ Global Health, 5, Article e002339. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjgh-2020-002339
European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (2014). Violence against women: An EU-wide survey. Publications Office of the European Union. https://fra.europa.eu/en/publication/2014/violence-against-women-eu-wide-survey-main-results-report
Garcia-Moreno, C., Jansen, H., Ellsberg, M., Heise, L., & Watts, C. H. (2006). Prevalence of intimate partner violence: Findings from the WHO multi-country study of women’s health and domestic violence. Lancet, 368, 1260-1269. https://www.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/lancet/PIIS0140673606695238.pdf
Gracia, E., Lila, M., & Santirso, F.A. (2020). Attitudes toward intimate partner violence against women in the European Union. A systematic review. European Psychologist, 25(2), 104-121. https://doi.org/10.1027/1016-9040/a000392
Gracia, E., Martín-Fernández, M., Lila, M., Merlo, J., & Ivert, A. K. (2019) Prevalence of intimate partner violence against women in Sweden and Spain: A psychometric study of the ‘Nordic paradox’. PLoS ONE, 14(5), Article e0217015. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0217015
Hernández, A., Hidalgo, M. D., Hambleton, R. K., & Gómez-Benito, J. (2020). International test commission guidelines for test adaptation: A criterion checklist. Psicothema, 32(3), 390-398. https://doi.org/10.7334/psicothema2019.306
Hudson, W. W., & McIntosh, S. R. (1981). The assessment of spouse abuse: Two quantifiable dimensions. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 43, 873-888. https://doi.org/10.2307/351344
Kline, R. B. (2015). Principles and Practice of Structural Equation Modeling. Guildford Press.
López-Ossorio, J. J., Carbajosa, P., Cerezo-Domínguez, A. I., González- Álvarez, J. L., Loinaz, I., & Muñoz-Vicente, J. M. (2018). Taxonomy of homicides of women in intimate partner relationships. Psychosocial Intervention, 27, 95-104. https://doi.org/10.5093/pi2018a11
Ministry of Equality (2019). Macroencuesta de violencia contra la mujer [Violence against women macro-survey]. https://violenciagenero.igualdad.gob.es/violenciaEnCifras/macroencuesta2015/Macroencuesta2019/home.htm
Muñiz, J., Elosua, P., & Hambleton, R. K. (2013). Directrices para la traducción y adaptación de los tests: Segunda Edición [Guidelines for translation and adaptation of tests: Second Edition]. Psicothema, 25(2), 151-157. https://doi.org/10.7334/psicothema2013.24
Muñiz, J., & Fonseca-Pedrero, E. (2019). Ten steps for test construction. Psicothema, 31(1), 7-16. https://doi.org/10.7334/psicothema2018.291
Novo, M., Herbón, J., & Amado, B. (2016). Gender and victimization: Effects on the evaluation of subtle and overt psychological violence, adult attachment and conflict resolution tactics. Revista Iberoamericana de Psicología y Salud, 7, 89-97. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rips.2016.05.002
Nybergh, L., Taft, C., & Krantz, G. (2013). Psychometric properties of the WHO violence against women instrument in a female population-based sample in Sweden: A cross-sectional survey. BMJ Open, 3, Article e002053. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2012-002053
Rabin, R., Jennings, J., Campbell, J., & Bair-Merritt, M. (2009). Intimate partner violence screening tools: A systematic review. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 36(5), 439-445. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amepre.2009.01.024
Sánchez-Hernández, M. D., Herrera, M. C., & Expósito, F. (2020). Controlling behaviors in couple relationships in the digital age: Acceptability of gender violence, sexism, and myths about romantic love. Psychosocial Intervention, 29(2), 67-81. https://doi.org/10.5093/pi2020a1
Sardhina, L., Maheu-Giroux, M., Stöckl, H., Meyer, S. R., & García-Moreno,
C. (2022). Global, regional, and national prevalence estimates of physical or sexual, or both, intimate partner violence against women in 2018. Lancet, 399, 803-813. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(21)02664-7
Schraiber, L., Latorre, M., França, I., Segri, N. J., & D’Oliveira, A. (2010). Validity of the WHO VAW study instrument for estimating gender-based violence against women. Revista Saúde Pública, 44, 658–66. www.scielo.br/rsp
Sherin, K. M., Sinacore, J. M., Li, X. Q., Zitter, R. E., & Shakil, A. (1998). HITS: A short domestic violence screening tool for use in a family practice setting. Family Medicine, 30, 508-512. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9669164/
Straus, M.A. (1979). Measuring intrafamily conflict and aggression: The conflict tactics scale (CTS). Journal of Marriage and the Family, 41, 75- 88. https://doi.org/10.2307/351733
Valpied, J., & Hegarty, K. (2015). Intimate partner abuse: Identifying, caring for and helping women in healthcare settings. Women’s Health, 11(1), 51-63. https://doi.org/10.2217/whe.14.59
Walker, L. (2009). The battered women syndrome (3ªEd). Springer Publishing Company.
Wilson, J. M., & Smirles, K. (2022). College students’ perceptions of intimate partner violence: The effects of type of abuse and perpetrator gender. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 37(1-2), 172-194. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260520908025
World Health Organization (2021). Violence against women. https://www.who.int/es/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/violence-against-women
World Health Organization (2005). WHO multi-country study on women’s health and domestic violence against women. Initial results on prevalence, health outcomes and women’s responses. https://www.who.int/reproductivehealth/publications/violence/24159358X/en/
Zara, G., & Gino, S. (2018). Intimate partner violence and its escalation into femicide. Frailty the name is “Violence against women”. Frontiers in Psychology, 9, Article 1777. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01777