Documentation of screening for perpetration of intimate partner violence in male veterans with PTSD

Abstract

Background: Men seeking care for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are believed to have high rates of relationship conflict and intimate partner violence (IPV). But little is known about screening for IPV perpetration in this population.

Objective: In phase one of a two-phase study of male veterans treated for PTSD, the primary objective was to determine how many veterans' records showed documentation that they'd been screened for IPV perpetration. The secondary objective was to count the total number of screenings and to determine whether an initial screening affected future screenings.

Methods: For this retrospective cohort study, a stratified random sample of 10% (N = 507) of all male veterans receiving treatment for PTSD at a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs health care facility in a five-year period (November 2002 to November 2007) was selected and more than 70,000 progress notes were reviewed. The presence or absence of a documented screening for IPV perpetration in each record was noted and a Spearman rank correlation test to determine the relationship between the documentation of a first screening and future screenings was performed.

Results: Of the 507 records examined, 120 (24%) showed documentation of screening for IPV perpetration. Of those, 73 (61%) showed positive results for IPV perpetration, and 61 (51%) showed more than one screening. Documentation of screening was most likely to have occurred at the veteran's initial appointment (71%) and in an outpatient mental health setting (72%); IPV perpetration was determined most often as the result of a provider's inquiry (45%). There was a total of 415 screenings, including 356 in records in which there was more than one screening. The documentation of a single screening for IPV perpetration was significantly correlated with the documentation of subsequent screenings and with IPV perpetration determination (Spearman rank correlation = 0.611, P < 0.001). Also, veterans with documented IPV perpetration and high rates of relationship conflict accessed the health care system twice as often as those without such documentation.

Conclusions: In the sample analyzed, fewer than a quarter of male veterans with PTSD had a documented screening for IPV perpetration. Also, because those identified as IPV perpetrators accessed the health care system at a higher rate than those not so identified and repeated screenings were associated with a higher rate of IPV perpetrator determinations, health care providers should be made more aware of opportunities for screening for IPV in this population.