Citation

McDonald SD, Beckham JC, Morey RA, Calhoun PS. J. Anxiety Disord. 2009; 23(2): 247-255.

Affiliation

VA Mid-Atlantic Region Mental Illness Research, Education and Clinical Center, Durham, North Carolina, United States. Scott.McDonald@va.gov

Copyright

(Copyright © 2009, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.janxdis.2008.07.007

PMID

18783913

PMCID

PMC2709769

Abstract

The present study examined the psychometric properties and diagnostic efficiency of the Davidson Trauma Scale (DTS), a self-report measure of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms. Participants included 158 U.S. military veterans who have served since September 11, 2001 (post-9/11). Results support the DTS as a valid self-report measure of PTSD symptoms. The DTS demonstrated good internal consistency, concurrent validity, and convergent and divergent validity. Diagnostic efficiency was excellent when discriminating between veterans with PTSD and veterans with no Axis I diagnosis. However, although satisfactory by conventional standards, efficiency was substantially attenuated when discriminating between PTSD and other Axis I diagnoses. Thus, results illustrate that potency of the DTS as a diagnostic aid was highly dependent on the comparison group used for analyses. Results are discussed in terms of applications to clinical practice and research.

Language: en