Self-administered questionnaire versus interview as a screening method for intimate partner violence in the prenatal setting in Japan: A randomised controlled trial

We conducted a randomised controlled trial to screen participants at three points in time in a prenatal clinic in Tokyo, Japan. There were 328 consenting women between 14 and 25 weeks of pregnancy who were consecutively selected and randomly assigned to either the interview or self-administered questionnaire group. Both groups completed the same screening instrument three times during their pregnancy. The primary outcome was the total number of women identified by each screening method and the secondary outcome was the effect of the screening as measured by the women's comfort level and their expressed need to consult with the nurse.For all three screenings, the identification rate in the interview group was significantly lower than that for the self-administered questionnaire group (relative risk 0.66, 95% CI 0.46 to 0.97), even after controlling for smoking (adjusted odds ratio 0.59, 95% CI 0.35 to 0.98). The two groups did not differ for secondary outcomes.The self-administered questionnaire identified more IPV than the face-to-face interview when screening pregnant women in a Japanese prenatal clinic.UMIN-CTRC000000353Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a serious social issue in Japan. A national survey conducted in 2008 revealed that approximately 25% of adult women, an estimated eight million women, reported being subjected to physical violence by a male partner, over their lifetime: approximately 16% reported sexual violence, and approximately 17% reported psychological abuse [1]. This survey revealed that the 5-year prevalence of IPV was 14% among women. Furthermore the number of women experiencing physical, sexual or psychological violence from a partner has increased gradually, approximately 19% to 33%, over the ten-year period of 1998-2008 [1,2].The law for the prevention of spousal violence and the protection of victims, enacted in Japan in 2001, called for the identification of abused women and for providing adequate resources such as support centres or