VALIDATION OF THE STRUCTURED INTERVIEW FOR DISORDERS OF EXTREME STRESS

There is a dearth of valid instruments to evaluate the primary sequela e of sexual abuse. The present study examined the construct validity o f the subscales of the Structured Interview for Disorders of Extreme S tress (SIDES), a measure of the associated features of posttraumatic s tress disorder (PTSD). Using a clinical sample of 74 survivors of chil dhood sexual abuse with PTSD, this study demonstrated that the subscal es of the SIDES (alterations in regulation of affect and impulses, alt erations in attention or consciousness, alterations in self-perception , and somatization) correlated highly with instruments hypothesized to measure similar constructs. Divergent validity was established for ea ch of four subscales of the SIDES. Findings from this study and other research on the psychometrics of the SIDES indicate that it is a valid measure of the associated features of PTSD in survivors of childhood sexual abuse. Copyright (C) 1997 by W.B. Saunders Company.