Professor Jacquelyn Campbell, PhD, RN, FAAN, has been named an American Academy of Nursing Edge Runner for her program Danger Assessment: An Instrument to Help Abused Women Assess Their Risk of Homicide.
“This is an extraordinary honor and another opportunity to shed light on domestic violence,” says Campbell. “I am grateful for the Academy’s recognition and for the commitment of so many colleagues and organizations that have prioritized research and funding for this distressing public health problem.”
(Campbell was also recently named a 2018 Living Legend by the American Academy of Nursing: Her “accomplishments have positively impacted health and health care of people in the U.S. and around the globe. Her legacy will endure the
test of time.”)
Through the Danger Assessment, women are provided a tool to help determine the likelihood of being injured or killed by an intimate partner.
Users are guided through 20 questions to prompt awareness of risk factors like death threats and partner’s access to a gun. Based on the level of danger, the Danger Assessment helps with safety planning measures and provides resources for abused women to learn about shelters, family justice centers, and medical advocacy. The tool also provides a calendar to help identify frequency of abuse and when injuries occurred, which can serve as evidence for possible court proceedings.
Campbell developed the Danger Assessment in 1986 by using her research, clinical knowledge, and expertise as a nurse combined with the input of law enforcement and domestic violence survivors. It is free to the public in a variety of languages and available to health care professionals who want to be certified to use the tool within their own practices and organizations. It has served as the framework for a number of other interventions including the Lethality Assessment adopted by police forces across the U.S., and the MyPlan relationship-safety app developed by colleague Nancy Glass, PhD, MPH, RN, FAAN.
