The test allows the woman to identify spousal violence for herself. Often, women are experiencing this violence but don't know what it is. We have to note that people often associate spousal violence with beating or physical violence. So the test allows women to recognize that they have suffered spousal violence. This often comes as a big shock to them. In reality, that is part of the dynamic of spousal violence that makes the woman feel responsible for the violence. So it can take a woman a lot of time to realize that the problem is not her.
The women we meet in the shelters always tell us they are almost embarrassed to call what they are experiencing violence when what it is, is little things here and there. But that is how the dynamic of spousal violence works. It is made up of a collection of little things that, taken separately, look like nothing, but once you put them together, they amount to coercive control. It's when you consider the entire history of the violence that you are able to see that dynamic.