Abstract
An increasing number of psychometrically sound measures of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD; American Psychiatric Association, 1994) is available for research and clinical assessment purposes, for example, the Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale (CAPS; Blake et al., 1990) and the PTSD Symptom Scale (PSS; Foa et al., 1993). However, although such measures address the B (reexperiencing), C (avoidance/numbing), and D (arousal) symptoms of the disorder, they tend not to address assessment of the A (exposure) criterion independently, and methodology for standardized assessment of trauma history has been relatively neglected. A number of efforts to develop such instruments are underway; however, trauma history instruments that are comprehensive and that have established psychometric properties are the exception. Reliably defining traumatic event characteristics that meet Criterion A of PTSD and obtaining validation for the occurrence of these events pose a serious challenge. Problems with recall, memory, and reporting further complicate assessment of these events. This chapter addresses these issues from the perspective of two efforts to develop such instruments. Although the purposes, formats, and target populations for the two trauma history instruments differ widely, both assess a wide range of traumatic events. Preliminary studies of these two instruments have focused on the stability and validity of reports of these events. Problems with operationalizing definitions of traumatic events that meet Criterion A have been encountered in each study. Even decisions regarding how to go about establishing the psychometric properties of these instruments were complex and not completely straightforward. The chapter discusses these common challenges and their implications for understanding and assessing trauma history and provides suggestions for future research in this area.
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Corcoran, C.B., Green, B.L., Goodman, L.A., Krinsley, K.E. (2000). Conceptual and Methodological Issues in Trauma History Assessment. In: Shalev, A.Y., Yehuda, R., McFarlane, A.C. (eds) International Handbook of Human Response to Trauma. Springer Series on Stress and Coping. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-4177-6_16
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-4177-6_16
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