A quiet questionnaire in the ER waiting room: can it expose hidden domestic abuse?
NCT ID NCT07827534
First seen Sep 18, 2026 · Last updated Sep 18, 2026
Summary
Researchers at a French hospital are studying whether emergency departments can routinely screen women for intimate partner violence using a self-administered questionnaire called the Woman Abuse Screening Tool. About 100 women aged 18 and older who can read French will be offered the questionnaire on paper or online while they wait. The study measures how many eligible women complete it and how acceptable the process is to patients and staff, to learn whether this kind of screening can fit into everyday emergency care.
What this could mean
Our plain-language read of the trial. This is informational only, not medical advice or a prediction.
- Active substance
- A self-administered questionnaire called the Woman Abuse Screening Tool (WAST), completed on paper or online in the emergency waiting room
- What this could lead to
- If the approach works, emergency departments could adopt a simple, private questionnaire to spot domestic violence earlier and steer women toward support services.
- What could go wrong
- This is a small, single-hospital feasibility study, so it cannot prove the screening reduces harm. Women may decline to answer, and staff may find the extra step hard to fit into busy emergency shifts.
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Study facts
What this study's own registry entry says, in plain language.
- Participants
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100 people
The number who actually took part.
- Started
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Apr 2025
- Finished
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Jun 2025
- Lead sponsor
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Other sponsor
The registry's catch-all category, for sponsors it does not file as a company, a government agency, or a research network.
Who can take part
This study's own entry requirements. Only the study team can say for certain whether you qualify.
Who is studied
Adult female patients presenting spontaneously to the Emergency Department of Villefranche-sur-Saône Hospital who meet all inclusion criteria and none of the exclusion criteria. The required sample size is estimated at 101 participants.
- Ages
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18 years and older
- Sex
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Female participants only
- Healthy volunteers
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Not accepted
This study is not open to healthy volunteers. The entry requirements below say who it is open to.
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Copied word for word from the study's registry entry, so the wording is the study team's rather than ours.
Inclusion Criteria: 1. Female 2. Aged 18 years or older 3. Able to read and write French Exclusion Criteria: 1. Refusal to participate in the study 2. Neurocognitive disorders, confusion, or psychotic disorders that preclude study participation 3. Severe uncorrected sensory impairment 4. Life-threatening emergency requiring immediate management in the resuscitation area
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As listed by the trial registrant
The condition terms exactly as the trial's registrant entered them.
Contacts and locations
Locations
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Hopitaux Nord-Ouest
Gleizé, France, 69400, France
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