Woman Abuse Screening Tool
1. In general, how would you describe your relationship?
__ A lot of tension
__ Some tension
__ No tension
2. Do you and your partner work out arguments with:
__ Great difficulty?
__ Some difficulty?
__ No difficulty?
3. Do arguments ever result in you feeling down or bad about yourself?
__ Often
__ Sometimes
__ Never
4. Do arguments ever result in hitting, kicking or pushing?
__ Often
__ Sometimes
__ Never
5. Do you ever feel frightened by what your partner says or does?
__ Often
__ Sometimes
__ Never
6. Has your partner ever abused you physically?
__ Often
__ Sometimes
__ Never
7. Has your partner ever abused you emotionally?
__ Often
__ Sometimes
__ Never
(London Middlesex, developed by Dr. B. Lent)
To score this instrument, the responses are assigned a number. For the first question, “a lot of tension” gets a score of 1 and the other 2 get a 0. For the second question, “great difficulty” gets a score of 1 and the other 2 get 0. For the remaining questions, “often” gets a score of 1, “sometimes” gets a score of 2, and “never” gets a score of 3. Resource: Brown JB, Lent B, Schmidt G, Sas G. Application of the Woman Abuse Screening Tool (WAST) and WAST-short in the family practice setting. J Fam Pract 2000; 49(10):896-903. Developed by Dr. B. Lent.
What can you do now?
1. Protect Yourself and any children. Get counseling and advocacy by contacting a domestic violence agency near you. If you live in the USA call the National Domestic Violence Agency at : 1-800-799-7233 . If you live outside the USA see the International Domestic Violence Agency listings.
File for an order of protection against your husband in the court. An Order For Protection (OFP) is a court order that will help to protect you from domestic abuse. An Order For Protection tells the abuser to stop harming or threatening you.
~ Lynette J. Hoy, is a marriage and family counselor, speaker, writer and was the Chicagoland Chair of Community and Business Women for Christ. Her newly released book, What’s Good About Anger? can be ordered online.