Page 53 - January Febuary 2016 Issue
P. 53
PTSD Among Military Personnel: A Review
The PTSD-Interview by Watson et al. (1991) The PK-Scale of the MMPI (Keane et al., 1984)
yields both dichotomous and continuous consists of 49 items that differentiated PTSD
scores, thus addressing some of the from non-PTSD patients in both a test sample
limitations of the SCID and DIS. Reports and a cross-validation sample of veterans.
of high test-retest reliability (.95), internal Eighty-two percent of 200 subjects were
stability (alpha = .92), sensitivity (.89), correctly classiied using a cut-off score of 30.
speciicity (.94), and kappa (.82) recommend Subsequent studies have not found the same
this instrument for use in diagnosing PTSD. diagnostic hit rate. The performance of PK in the
Compared to other clinical instruments, this NVVRS (Kulka et al., 1991) indicates that the
instrument asks the subjects to make their MMPI-2 (Lyons and Keane, 1992) modiications
own rating of symptom severity, thereby have not altered the general interrelationship of
minimizing the role of the experienced PK with other measures of PTSD.
clinician in the diagnostic process.
The Mississippi Scale (Keane, Caddell & Taylor,
The Structured Interview for PTSD (SI- 1988) is available in both combat and civilian
PTSD) (Davidson et al.1989) has continuous versions. It is a 35 item instrument that has high
and dichotomous symptoms ratings. High internal consistency (alpha = .94), test-retest
test-retest reliability (.71), inter-rater reliability (.97), sensitivity (.93), and speciicity
reliability (.97 - .99) and perfect diagnostic (.89). This instrument performed effectively
agreement (N = 34) have been reported. in both clinical settings (e.g., McFall, Smith,
Utility analyses have revealed sensitivity Roszell et al., 1990) and in ield/community
of .96, speciicity of .80, and a kappa of .79 settings (e.g., Kulka et al., 1991), indicating
when compared to the SCID. its general utility for measuring PTSD across
settings and for different purposes (e.g., research
The Clinician Administered PTSD Scale or clinical).
(Blake et al., 1990) is available in both
lifetime and current versions. The CAPS Impact of Event Scale (Horowitz, Wilner &
contains 17 diagnostic symptoms of Alvarez, 1979) focuses upon the assessment
PTSD, its 8 associated features, symptom of intrusions and avoidant/numbing responses.
severity measures in terms of frequency & IES is the single most widely used instrument
intensity, indices of impairment in social and for assessing the psychological consequences
occupational functioning, and an assessment of exposure to traumatic events. The scale has
of validity of patient responses. The CAPS good internal consistency (.78 for intrusion, .82
also provides continuous and dichotomous for avoidance) and test-retest reliability (.89 for
scores to suit the needs of the investigator/ intrusion, .79 for avoidance). Recent studies
clinician. Sound psychometric properties in have found the IES to correlate well with other
terms of reliability and validity have been indices of PTSD. The Impact of events scale-
reported (Weathers, 1992). Revised (IES-R) (Weiss and Marmer, 1997) to
parallel the DSM-IV criteria for PTSD, is also
II. Self-report scales self-report measure designed to assess current
subjective distress for any speciic life event.
53
The PTSD-Interview by Watson et al. (1991) The PK-Scale of the MMPI (Keane et al., 1984)
yields both dichotomous and continuous consists of 49 items that differentiated PTSD
scores, thus addressing some of the from non-PTSD patients in both a test sample
limitations of the SCID and DIS. Reports and a cross-validation sample of veterans.
of high test-retest reliability (.95), internal Eighty-two percent of 200 subjects were
stability (alpha = .92), sensitivity (.89), correctly classiied using a cut-off score of 30.
speciicity (.94), and kappa (.82) recommend Subsequent studies have not found the same
this instrument for use in diagnosing PTSD. diagnostic hit rate. The performance of PK in the
Compared to other clinical instruments, this NVVRS (Kulka et al., 1991) indicates that the
instrument asks the subjects to make their MMPI-2 (Lyons and Keane, 1992) modiications
own rating of symptom severity, thereby have not altered the general interrelationship of
minimizing the role of the experienced PK with other measures of PTSD.
clinician in the diagnostic process.
The Mississippi Scale (Keane, Caddell & Taylor,
The Structured Interview for PTSD (SI- 1988) is available in both combat and civilian
PTSD) (Davidson et al.1989) has continuous versions. It is a 35 item instrument that has high
and dichotomous symptoms ratings. High internal consistency (alpha = .94), test-retest
test-retest reliability (.71), inter-rater reliability (.97), sensitivity (.93), and speciicity
reliability (.97 - .99) and perfect diagnostic (.89). This instrument performed effectively
agreement (N = 34) have been reported. in both clinical settings (e.g., McFall, Smith,
Utility analyses have revealed sensitivity Roszell et al., 1990) and in ield/community
of .96, speciicity of .80, and a kappa of .79 settings (e.g., Kulka et al., 1991), indicating
when compared to the SCID. its general utility for measuring PTSD across
settings and for different purposes (e.g., research
The Clinician Administered PTSD Scale or clinical).
(Blake et al., 1990) is available in both
lifetime and current versions. The CAPS Impact of Event Scale (Horowitz, Wilner &
contains 17 diagnostic symptoms of Alvarez, 1979) focuses upon the assessment
PTSD, its 8 associated features, symptom of intrusions and avoidant/numbing responses.
severity measures in terms of frequency & IES is the single most widely used instrument
intensity, indices of impairment in social and for assessing the psychological consequences
occupational functioning, and an assessment of exposure to traumatic events. The scale has
of validity of patient responses. The CAPS good internal consistency (.78 for intrusion, .82
also provides continuous and dichotomous for avoidance) and test-retest reliability (.89 for
scores to suit the needs of the investigator/ intrusion, .79 for avoidance). Recent studies
clinician. Sound psychometric properties in have found the IES to correlate well with other
terms of reliability and validity have been indices of PTSD. The Impact of events scale-
reported (Weathers, 1992). Revised (IES-R) (Weiss and Marmer, 1997) to
parallel the DSM-IV criteria for PTSD, is also
II. Self-report scales self-report measure designed to assess current
subjective distress for any speciic life event.
53
