Danger Assessment Instrument

Original Development

The DA was developed in consultation on item wording and content validity from battered women, advocates, law enforcement officials, and other clinical experts on battering. The initial DA items were developed from Jacqueline C. Campbell's research reviewing police IPH records as well as reviews of other studies of IPH or serious injury from IPV.

The DA first assesses severity and frequency of battering by asking an abused woman to mark on a calendar the approximate days when physically abusive incidents occurred, ranking their severity on a scale of 1 to 5. Using a calendar increases accurate recall in general and the DA calendar helps raise the woman's consciousness and reduce the normal minimization of IPV. In one study, 38% of 97 abused women initially reporting no increase in severity and frequency of violence in the past year changed their response to “yes” after filling out the calendar portion.

The second part of the original DA was a 15-item yes/no dichotomous response format of risk factors associated with IPH. Both portions of the DA take approximately 20 minutes to complete. The woman can complete the DA by herself or with professionals from the health care, criminal justice, or victim advocate systems. The original DA was scored by counting the “yes” responses, with more “yeses” indicating more danger.

The original DA has published psychometric support in eight studies with internal consistency acceptable (.70-.80) and two studies of test-retest reliability of 0.89 and 0.94. Discriminant group validity was supported by significant differences in DA mean scores among contrasting groups of women, the lowest among nonabused women and the highest in women in the emergency department. Convergent construct validity was supported with moderate to strong correlations between the DA and validated instruments (e.g., Conflict Tactics Scales) measuring severity and frequency of IPV. All of the studies testing the DA have had substantial proportions (33% to 77%) of women of color, primarily African American and Hispanic, with psychometric properties at least as strong among minority ethnicity women. Additionally, three independent predictive validity studies in the United States and one in Taiwan were published that at least partially support the DA's ability to predict IPV reassault.

Revision

The most important validation is based on data from the 11-city case-control study designed to identify risk factors for IPF and to test the DA. Consecutive police or medical examiner records of IPF from 1994 [Page 168]to 2000 were examined for victim-perpetrator relationship. Cases were eligible if they involved a victim aged 18 or older, a current or ex-intimate partner perpetrator, and were designated as “closed” by the police. Records were abstracted for data specific to the homicide and for potential proxy informants (i.e., mother, sister, brother, or friend) knowledgeable about the victim's relationship with the perpetrator. A knowledgeable proxy was located in 68% (373 out of 545) of the cases, and 83% (310 out of 373) agreed to participate.

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