SCREENING FOR PTSD IN A SUBSTANCE-ABUSE SAMPLE - PSYCHOMETRIC PROPERTIES OF A MODIFIED VERSION OF THE PTSD SYMPTOM SCALE SELF-REPORT

The high rate of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among substance use disorder (SUD) patients has been documented in research protocols, but there is evidence that it is markedly under-diagnosed in clinical settings. To address the need for a brief self-report measure to iden tify SUD patients who may benefit from further assessment and/or treat ment for PTSD, the psychometric properties of a modified version of th e PTSD Symptom Scale Self-Report (PSS-SR) were examined in a treatment -seeking SUD sample (N = 118). The modified version of the PSS-SR, whi ch measures both frequency and severity of PTSD symptoms, demonstrated good internal consistency reliability and was correlated with other s elf-report measures of trauma-related symptomatology. Comparisons betw een a structured PTSD diagnostic interview and the modified PSS-SR ind icated that 89% of the PTSD positive patients were correctly classifie d by the modified PSS-SR. The clinical relevance of these findings was discussed.