Asking About Domestic Violence: SAFE Questions

Abstract

To the Editor. —Four clinical interview questions, the SAFE questions, have proved useful in helping to make a diagnosis of domestic violence among adult women. The questions focus on Stress and Safety, Abuse, Friends' and Family's knowledge of the woman's situation, and Emergency plans. Analogous to the CAGE1(Cut down, Annoyed, Guilty, Eye-opener) questions detecting alcoholism, the SAFE questions provide the physician with an easy method of screening all women for physical or psychological violence in their families or intimate relationships. The medical diagnosis of domestic violence cannot be made solely based on these questions, but physicians can use the questions to determine their index of suspicion for the existence of domestic violence and pursue further inquiry or intervention. Two or three affirmative answers create a high index of suspicion for domestic violence. Domestic violence, also known as partner violence, wife abuse, intimate violence, and family violence, is characterized

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