The Index of Spouse Abuse (ISA) is a 30-item

self-report A self-report study is a type of survey, questionnaire, or poll in which respondents read the question and select a response by themselves without any outside interference. A ''self-report'' is any method which involves asking a participant abou ...

scale developed to measure the severity of physical and non-physical aggression inflicted on a woman by her

spouse A spouse is a significant other in a marriage. In certain contexts, it can also apply to a civil union or common-law marriage. Although a spouse is a form of significant other, the latter term also includes non-marital partners who play a social ...

or partner. The ISA has become a popular measure in medical settings. It was created from the conflict tactics scale, one of the earliest instruments used to identify violence between partners by measuring interpersonal aggression, in which 19 items pertain to non-physical abuse and 11 pertain to

physical abuse Physical abuse is any intentional act causing injury or trauma to another person or animal by way of bodily contact. In most cases, children are the victims of physical abuse, but adults can also be victims, as in cases of domestic violence or wo ...

. Each item is rated on a scale from 1 (never) to 5 (very frequently). Both of these scales are part of assessing the

cycle of abuse The cycle of abuse is a social cycle theory developed in 1979 by Lenore E. Walker to explain patterns of behavior in an abusive relationship. The phrase is also used more generally to describe any set of conditions which perpetuate abusive an ...

References

External links

Domestic violence: Screening made practical
Intimate partner violence {{crime-stub