Clinicians’ Diagnostic Accuracy of Intimate Partner Relational Problems and Maltreatment: An International Field Study

Objective: Interpersonal partner violence (IPV) is a pervasive social and public health problem worldwide. In the context of the response by the World Health Organization to this issue, proposals were developed to improve the usefulness of International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11) descriptions for helping clinicians to reliably identify relational problems and maltreatment (RPM), including IPV, as part of clinical practice. This study focuses on factors associated with the accuracy of diagnostic decisions made by mental health professionals (MHPs) around the world when using the proposed ICD descriptions for RPM with standardized clinical vignettes in an ICD-11 internet-based field trial study. Method: A total of 1,221 MHPs from ninety countries evaluated randomly assigned vignettes, which described patients presenting with or without RPM and with or without a co-occurring depressive or anxiety disorder. Results: Findings showed that increased diagnostic accuracy for RPM was associated with MHPs being female or having greater knowledge/experience of RPM, as well as with the absence of a mental disorder in the patient. Conclusions: Findings highlight the importance of providing IPV-related training programs for MHPs to (a) better identify and address IPV in mental health settings and (b) improve knowledge and understanding of the consequences of IPV for physical and mental health.