Reliability and validity of a measure of sexual and physical abuse histories among women with serious mental illness.

OBJECTIVE

The purpose of this paper is to describe a standardized questionnaire of histories of abuse among women with serious and persistent mental illness, and to assess its test-retest reliability and its validity.

METHODS

Seventy women enrolled in an outpatient clinic were asked about childhood histories of physical and sexual abuse in a structured clinical interviews at two times.

RESULTS

Test-retest reliability yielded a Kappa of .63 for the measure of physical abuse, and .82 for the measure of sexual abuse. Validity, assessed as consistency with an independent clinical assessment, showed 75% agreement for reports of physical abuse, and 93% agreement for reports of sexual abuse.

CONCLUSIONS

Childhood histories of physical and sexual abuse can be reliably and validly assessed in women with severe and persistent mental illness using a standardized instrument.