During an interview, a woman has answered "yes" to two of the Slapped, Threatened, and Throw (STaT) questions. What should the nurse say next?

A) "So you were abused?"
B) "Do you know what caused this abuse?"
C) "I need to report this abuse to the authorities."
D) "Tell me about the abuse in your relationship."

In any case of suspected abuse an open-ended question or statement is useful. If a woman answers "yes" to any of the Slapped, Threatened, and Throw (STaT) questions, then the nurse should ask a question such as "Tell me about the abuse in your relationship". This is a good way to start and is designed to assess how recent or frequent the abuse and its severity. If a woman answers "yes" to any of the Abuse Assessment Screen questions, then the nurse should ask questions designed to assess how recent and how serious the abuse was. Asking the woman an open-ended question, such as "tell me about this abuse in your relationship" is a good way to start.