Validation and adaptation of the danger assessment-5: A brief intimate partner violence risk assessment.

AIMS: The aim of this study was to assess the predictive validity of the DA-5 with the addition of a strangulation item in evaluating the risk of an intimate partner violence (IPV) victim being nearly killed by an intimate partner.

BACKGROUND: The DA-5 was developed as a short form of the Danger Assessment for use in healthcare settings, including emergency and urgent care settings. Analyzing data from a sample of IPV survivors who had called the police for domestic violence, the DA-5 was tested with and without an item on strangulation, a potentially fatal and medically damaging IPV tactic used commonly by dangerous abusers.

DESIGN: Researchers interviewed a heterogeneous sample of 1,081 women recruited by police between 2009-2013 at the scene of a domestic violence call; 619 (57.3%) were contacted and re-interviewed after an average of 7 months.

METHODS: The predictive validity of the DA-5 was assessed for the outcome of severe or near lethal IPV re-assault using sensitivity, specificity and ROC curve analysis techniques.

RESULTS: The original DA-5 was found to be accurate (AUC = .68), equally accurate with the strangulation item from the original DA substituted (AUC = .68) and slightly more accurate (but not a statistically significant difference) if multiple strangulation is assessed.

CONCLUSION: We recommend that the DA-5 with the strangulation item be used for a quick assessment of homicide or near homicide risk among IPV survivors. A protocol for immediate referral and examination for further injury from strangulation should be adopted for IPV survivors at high risk.