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Danger Assessment (DA)

The Danger Assessment (DA) is a 20-item instrument designed to assess the likelihood of lethality or near lethality occurring in a case of intimate partner violence as measured by the occurrence of certain behaviors.

Categories

Geographies Tested: United States of America

Populations Included: Female

Age Range: Adults

Items:

"He" refers to your husband, partner, ex-husband, ex-partner, or whoever is currently physically hurting you.

1. Has the physical violence increased in severity of frequency over the past year?
2. Does he own a gun?
3. Have you left him after living together during the past year?
3a. (If have never lived with him check here)
4. Is he unemployed?
5. Has he ever used a weapon against you or threatened you with a lethal weapon?
5a. (If yes, was the weapon a gun?)
6. Does he threaten to kill you?
7. Has he avoided being arrested for domestic violence?
8. Do you have a child that is not his?
9. Has he ever forced you to have sex when you did not wish to do so?
10. Does he ever try to choke you?
11. Does he use illegal drugs? By drugs, I mean "uppers" or amphetamines, "meth", speed, angel dust, cocaine, "crack", street drugs or mixtures?
12. Is he an alcoholic or problem drinker?
13. Does he control most or all of your daily activities? (For instance: does he tell you who you can be friends with, when you can see your family, how much money you can use, or when you can take the car?) If he tries, but you do not let him, check here.
14. Is he violently and constantly jealous of you? (For instance, does he say "If I can't have you, no one can.")
15. Have you ever been beaten by him while you were pregnant? (If you have never been pregnant by him, check here.)
16. Has he ever threatened or tried to commit suicide?
17. Does he threaten to harm your children?
18. Do you believe he is capable of killing you?
19. Does he follow or spy on you, leave threatening notes or messages on answering machine, destroy your property, or call you when you don't want him to?
20. Have you ever threatened or tried to commit suicide?

Response Options:
No - 0
Yes - 1

Scoring Procedures

The number of "yes" responses is summed. Score cut-points are as follows:
Variable danger: 0-7
Increased danger: 9-13
Severe danger: 14-17
Extreme danger: 18 and above

Original Citation

Campbell, J. C., Webster, D. W., & Glass, N. (2009). The Danger Assessment: Validation of a lethality risk assessment instrument for intimate partner femicide. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 24(4), 653-674. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260508317180


Psychometric Score

Ease of Use Score

Scoring breakdown

Formative Research

Qualitative Research

Existing Literature/Theoretical Framework

Field Expert Input

Cognitive Interviews / Pilot Testing

Reliability

Internal

Test-retest

Interrater

Validity

Content

Face

Criterion (gold-standard)

Construct

KEY

Ease of Use

Readability

Scoring Clarity

Length

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