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 P TSD according to DSM-III-R criteria and assess the severity of PTSD sy mptoms. An interview and self-report version of the PSS were administe red to a sample of 118 recent rape and non-sexual assault victims. The results indicate that both versions of the PSS have satisfactory inte rnal consistency, high test-retest reliability, and good concurrent va lidity. The interview version yielded high inter-rater agreement when administred separately by two interviewers and excellent convergent va lidity with the SCID When used to diagnose PTSD, the self-report versi on of the PSS was somewhat more conservative than the interview versio n.