BACKGROUND: Active injury surveillance programs need to address 'ongoing'intimate partner violence (IPV). While the Abuse Assessment Screen (AAS) has been validated for 'present'(withina year) IPV it is not clear that it is valid for 'present' (ongoing) IPV. We have created an OAS (OngoingAbuse Screen, OAS) by changing the AAS to specifically request information related to 'ongoing' IPV.The hypothesis of this study was that the OAS represents a construct that is different from either theoriginal AAS or a single question asking about ongoing IPV. MATERIAL/METHODS: All patients presentingto the ED during a convenience sampling of shifts completed the survey. The survey included the OAS,the AAS, and the question 'Are you presently a victim of IPV?' Comparisons were made between these 3using the kappa statistic for agreement. RESULTS: A total of 488 surveys were completed. The AAS waspositive in 288/488 (59%, 95%CI= 55-63%), the OAS was positive in 78/488 (16%, 95%CI=13-19%), and thesingle question for DV was positive in 14/488 (3%, 95%CI=2-5%). Kappa was 0.28 for the AAS and the OAS.When compared to the single question about present DV, kappa was 0.05 for the AAS and 0.27 for the OAS.CONCLUSIONS: The OAS may be a useful tool for evaluating ongoing IPV. The OAS resulted in rates differentfrom that of the AAS and may be more specific to ongoing IPV than the AAS and more sensitive than a singlequestion about DV.

Keywords: Comparative Study, Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice, Mass Screening, Population Surveillance, Questionnaires, Spouse Abuse