Instruments to Assess Bidirectional Intimate Partner Violence: A Systematic Review.

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Psychology
• Sociology

Background:

• Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a major public health concern.
• Historically, IPV research often depicted unidirectional violence (male perpetrator, female victim).
• Emerging research highlights bidirectional violence (BV), where both partners may perpetrate and experience violence.

Purpose of the Study:

• To systematically review and synthesize scientific literature on instruments used to assess bidirectional IPV in adults.
• To identify commonly used assessment tools and evaluate their properties.
• To highlight gaps in current assessment methodologies for BV.

Main Methods:

• Systematic literature search following PRISMA guidelines across major databases (PubMed, B-on, Web of Science, Scielo).
• Inclusion of 50 studies published between 2012 and 2024.
• Analysis focused on instruments used for assessing bidirectional violence in adult samples, predominantly community-based and recruited online.

Main Results:

• The Conflict Tactics Scale was the most frequently utilized instrument for BV assessment, showing strong psychometric properties.
• Reported BV prevalence varied widely (2%–98.4%), with general consistency across instruments, except for male reports.
• Limited studies addressed interpartner agreement, and reliance on single-partner self-reports challenges accuracy.

Conclusions:

• The Conflict Tactics Scale is a prevalent tool for assessing bidirectional IPV, but its application has limitations.
• Current assessment methods, often relying on single-partner reports, may affect the accuracy of BV prevalence estimates.
• Future research should prioritize developing precise, context-sensitive tools incorporating dual-partner reports for improved BV assessment.