Reviewer ’s report  
 
Title: Assessing the feasibility of a web -based domestic violence intervention using chronic 
disease frameworks: Reducing the burden of 'treatment' and promoting capacity for action in 
women abused by a partner  
 
Version: 0 Date: 15 Feb 2016  
 
Reviewer: Susan Jack  
 
Reviewer's report:  
 
1. I appreciate that there are challenges in the field in defining different types of abuse. In your 
first paragraph you refer to both DV and IPV - it seems that DV is the main term that you 
plan to use, so I would recommend that for consistency, you stick wi th DV and chance the 
IPV acronym - line 23, page 1. However, if you decide that there are important reasons to 
keep the "IPV" (vs DV) in that sentence, then you need to spell it out in full - as you have not 
previously indicated that IPV is the abbreviatio n for intimate partner violence. Also - as you 
have decided to abbreviate "domestic violence" - please do a quick search to ensure that each 
mention of the term is referred to by the acronym (this is about consistency in writing) e.g. 
you have a "domestic violence" that should be DV on page page 6, line 26, line 38, page 7 
line 26 etc.  
2. The online safety decision aid being tested in New Zealand and the US - I believe is also 
being piloted/tested in Canada by Ford -Gilboe et al - please double check with Dr . Heggarty 
- and then reference if this is accurate.  
3. Page 7, line 16 - I think should read "safely" not safety  
4. In your literature review of apps and online applications - I think it might be valuable to talk 
about the "safety" of these applications f or women in the context of abusive relationships - 
how do these technologies provide measures/strategies to ensure that the perpetrator can't 
access her information?  
5. The description and rationale for using Burden of Treatment and NPT as frameworks to 
appraise I -Decide as a specific DV intervention is quite clear and I think well supported. 
However this paper could be strengthened if a) any possible limitations of these theories and 
their application within this context could be identified; b) discuss if it is important that there 
are only indirect (and not direct) connections between the I -Decide features and the 
constructs of self -efficacy and resource mobilization.  
6. In the discussion or the conclusion, are you able to provide some summary statements a bout 
how or under what conditions other researchers might consider using this framework to 
evaluate their own IPV/DV interventions in their evaluations?  
 
Are the methods appropriate and well described?  
If not, please specify what is required in your comments to the authors.  
 
Unable to assess  
 
Does the work include the necessary controls?  
If not, please specify which controls are required in your comments to the authors.  
 
Unable to assess  
 
Are the conclusions drawn adequately supported by the data shown?  
If not, please explain in your comments to the authors.  
 
Yes 
 
Are you able to assess any statistics in the manuscript or would you recommend an  
additional statistical review?  
If an additional statistical review is recommended, please specify what aspects require further  
assessment in your comments to the editors.  
 
Not relevant to this manuscript  
 
Quality of written English  
Please indicate the quality of language in the manuscript:  
 
Needs some lang uage corrections before being published  
 
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