Detecting Domestic Violence: Spanish External Validationof the Index of Spouse Abuse

摘要

The aims of the study were to assess thepsychometric properties of the Spanish version of the Indexof Spouse Abuse (ISA), and to validate it against externalcriteria of intimate partner violence. The Spanish version ofthe ISA was administered to 223 non-abused women and182 victims of intimate partner violence. Internal consis-tency coefficients oscillated between 0.88 and 0.98. TheConfirmatory Factor Analysis failed to replicate the originaltwo-factor structure. Using Exploratory Factor Analysis, atwo-factor solution was found: physical (ISA-P) and non-physical (ISA-NP), but the items included in each factorwere slightly different from the original two subscales.Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis revealed anAUC value for the ISA global score of 0.99 (95% CI: 0.98-0.99), with the optimal cut-off of 12 for detecting intimatepartner violence. The Spanish version of the ISA is a valid instrument for detecting intimate partner violence in afemale population.