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Table 3 ACTS IPV screening test characteristics in predicting cases positive for any category of abuse on the Composite Abuse Scale (total N = 1011, number of participants meeting reference criteria = 104a)

From: Validity of the ACTS intimate partner violence screen in antenatal care: a cross sectional study

Predictor (screening item)

Response typeb

PPV

NPV

Sensitivity

Specificity

Area under curve

Area

95% CIc

Chi2 d

p

Individual items:

 Done something that made you feel afraid?

Yes/No

0.65

0.93

0.32

0.98

0.65

(0.60 to

0.69)

  

Frequency

0.56

0.94

0.47

0.96

0.71

(0.67 to

0.76)

10.25

.0014

 Controlled your day to day activities … or put you down?

Yes/No

0.79

0.93

0.32

0.99

0.65

(0.61 to

0.70)

  

Frequency

0.63

0.94

0.46

0.97

0.72

(0.67 to

0.76)

12.45

.0004

 Threatened to hurt you in any way?

Yes/No

0.81

0.91

0.13

>  0.99

0.56

(0.53 to

0.59)

  

Frequency

0.83

0.92

0.23

0.99

0.61

(0.57 to

0.65)

9.69

.0019

 Hit, slapped, kicked or otherwise physically hurt you?

Yes/No

0.92

0.91

0.12

>  0.99

0.56

(0.53 to

0.59)

  

Frequency

0.81

0.92

0.20

0.99

0.60

(0.56 to

0.64)

8.73

.0031

Overall ACTS screen:

 Positive screen (one or more positive items)e

Yes/No

0.68

0.95

0.51

0.97

0.74

(0.69 to

0.79)

  

Frequency

0.56

0.96

0.66

0.94

0.80

(0.76 to

0.85)

11.18

.0008

  1. CI confidence interval, PPV positive predictive value, i.e. proportion of positively screened participants who met criteria for any abuse category on Composite Abuse Scale, NPV negative predictive value, i.e. proportion of negatively screened participants who did not meet criteria for any abuse category on Composite Abuse Scale; Sensitivity = proportion of abused participants who screened positive on the predictor; Specificity = proportion of non-abused participants who screened negative on the predictor. aMissing cases were excluded listwise. bItems were presented to all participants in two formats: Yes/No format - Participants were asked, “In the last year, has a partner or ex-partner…”, and response options for each item were yes (scored 1) or no (scored 0); Frequency format - Participants were asked, “In the last year, how often has a partner or ex-partner…”, and responses for each item were on a five point scale (Never = 0, Rarely = 1, Sometimes = 2, Frequently = 3, Very frequently = 4); in both formats a participant screened positive if they had a score of at least 1. cAsymptotic 95% confidence interval. dChi2 for difference between area under curve when using binary versus frequency response format. eScreened positive (score of at least 1) on any of the four screening items. fScreened positive (score of at least 1) on “Done something that made you feel afraid?” or “Controlled your day-to-day activities (e.g. who you see, where you go) or put you down?”