Utility of STaT for the identification of recent intimate partner violence

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is an important issue with far-reaching health consequences. This study investigates the utility of STaT, a three-question IPV screening tool, for recent IPV identification in a sample of adult women in an innercity urgent care clinic. STaT score was calculated as the total number of affirmative responses to the three questions. Efficacy of STaT as an IPV screen was estimated by computing the sensitivity and specificity at possible cut points, based on participant's STaT score, and using Index of Spouse Abuse scores as a comparison standard. The sensitivities of STaT were 94.9%, 84.8% and 62% with the cut points set at scores of 1, 2 and 3, respectively. Thus, with the criterion for a positive screen set at a cut-point score of 1, STaT can be used to facilitate the identification of abused women in busy public healthcare settings.