RELIABILITY AND VALIDITY OF A BRIEF INSTRUMENT FOR ASSESSING POSTTRAUMATIC-STRESS-DISORDER

This study examines the psychometric properties of two versions of the PTSD Sympton Scale (PSS). The scale contains 17 items that diagnose PTSD according to DSM-III-R criteria and assess the severity of PTSD symptoms. An interview and self-report version of the PSS were administered to a sample of 118 recent rape and non-sexual assault victims. The results indicate that both versions of the PSS have satisfactory internal consistency, high test-retest reliability, and good concurrent validity. The interview version yielded high inter-rater agreement when administred separately by two interviewers and excellent convergent validity with the SCID When used to diagnose PTSD, the self-report version of the PSS was somewhat more conservative than the interview version.