The Malayalam Domestic Violence Scale is a 20-item measure of individual experience of acts of domestic violence over the past 1 year, based on the National Family Health Survey – 3 Questionnaire (International Institute for Population Sciences & Macro International 2007) and the India SAFE Questionnaire (Kumar et al. 2005). The scale includes physical and psychological aspects of intimate partner violence.
Geographies Tested: India
Populations Included: Female
Age Range: Adolescents, Adults
1. Did not permit to meetinteract with female friends
2. Restricted interaction with your family members
3. Did not permit to handle money
4. Did not permit to chosebuy things
5. Irritatedsuspiciousangry if you talked to other men
6. Accused you of being unfaithful
7. Treated you like a servant
8. Did not allow you to partake in decision-making
9. He kept away from home for days or weeks without informing yougiving you money
10. He was unfaithful to youhad extra-marital relationships
11. Did not react against his relativesagreed with his relatives, when they insulted you
12. Insulted you in front of others
13. Threatened to harm you physically
14. Slapped you
15. Beat you on other body parts
16. Twisted your armpulled your hair
17. Kicked youdragged you
18. Choked you or inflicted burns on you
19. Ignored your purposely, by not having sexual intercourse with you for weeks
20. Had sexual intercourse with you forcibly, when you were not interested
Response Options:
Never - 0
1-2 times - 1
3-5 times - 2
6-10 times - 3
11 times or more - 4
Responses for each question are summed, so the total score of the scale ranges from 0 to 80, with higher scores reflecting greater experience of domestic violence.
Indu, P. V., Vidhukumar, K., Subha, N., Remadevi, S., & Anilkumar, T. V. (2011). Development and validation of the Domestic Violence Questionnaire in married women aged 18-55 years. Indian Journal of Psychiatry, 53(3), 218. https://doi.org/10.4103/0019-5545.86811
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