Posttraumatic stress disorder among mothers of pediatric cancer survivors:Diagnosis, comorbidity, and utility of the PTSD checklist as a screening instrument

Objective: To examine posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in mothers of su rvivors of childhood cancer. Comorbidity of anxiety and depressive disorder s, prevalence of subclinical PTSD, and the utility of a self-report measure as a screening instrument for PTSD were also investigated. Method: Mothers (n = 65) completed a questionnaire self-report PTSD checkli st (PCL-C). Mothers were administered several modules of the SCID: nonpatie nt edition by telephone, including the PTSD, Generalized Anxiety, and Major Depressive Disorder modules. Results: We diagnosed 6.2% of the sample with current PTSD. An additional 2 0% had subclinical PTSD. One of four mothers with PTSD diagnoses had a como rbid diagnosis of an anxiety and depressive disorder. The PCL-C evidenced d iagnostic utility as a screening instrument. However, a moderate number of false-positives would result if the recommended cut-off on the instrument w as used. Conclusions: The PCL-C had diagnostic utility in screening mothers of child hood cancer survivors. The presence of comorbid diagnoses such as anxiety a nd depression should be examined.