The Feasibility of Ecological Momentary Assessment for Assessing Intimate Partner Violence in College Students with a History of Intimate Partner Violence Perpetration.

Objective: Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a public health problem among college students. However, few studies have used ecological momentary assessment (EMA) to examine IPV, and instead have relied on methods that introduce recall bias (e.g., cross-sectional methods, daily diary). Thus, this study examined the feasibility of EMA to assess IPV among college students aged 18-25.

Method: A sample of 164 college students (18-25 years old, 62.8% women) in a dating relationship with a recent history of IPV perpetration completed one morning and four randomly prompted surveys daily for 28 days.

Results: Findings demonstrated high compliance (89.57% for morning and 73.49% for random surveys) with EMA surveys. The prevalence of psychological, physical, and sexual IPV reported on randomly prompted surveys was higher relative to morning surveys. The number of reported IPV instances was higher during the first half of sampling (i.e., first 14 days) compared to the last half of sampling (i.e., days 15-28). Finally, participants reported an overall neutral reaction to EMA methods, despite some technological challenges.

Conclusions: EMA is a feasible method for assessing events of IPV in college students. The reduction of recall bias afforded with EMA methods could bring more accurate examination of prevalence and proximal risk factors for IPV. Intervention approaches could benefit from harnessing EMA methods to bring interventions to the moment they are needed among those who experience IPV.