Validation of the Abuse Screening Inventory (ASI).

AIMS

To assess the test-retest reliability and concurrent validity of the Abuse Screening Inventory (ASI) in a female sample.

METHOD

The ASI comprises 16 items concerning four kinds of abuse: psychological, physical, and sexual abuse, and abuse in healthcare. A randomized sample of 699 women answered the ASI once. Six months later 53 of them answered the ASI again and were interviewed. To assess concurrent validity, answers in the interviews were considered as the gold standard and the ASI as the diagnostic test.

RESULTS

The ASI presented good overall test-retest reliability ranging from 81% to 96% for separate items. The ASI separated very well abused from non-abused women. No false positive answers were found. Sensitivity ranged from 72% to 82% for items concerning abuse.

CONCLUSION

The ASI is a short abuse screening questionnaire that had acceptable validity and test-retest reliability in a random female Swedish sample.