@article{ref1,
title="Early prognostic screening for posttraumatic stress disorder with the Davidson Trauma Scale and the SPAN",
journal="Depression and anxiety",
year="2008",
author="Sijbrandij, Marit and Olff, Miranda and Opmeer, Brent C. and Carlier, Ingrid V. E. and Gersons, Berthold P. R.",
volume="25",
number="12",
pages="1038-1045",
abstract="BACKGROUND: This study examined the accuracy of the 17-item Dutch version of the Davidson Trauma Scale (DTS) and the four-item SPAN (Startle, Physiological Arousal, Anger and Numbness) to detect survivors at risk for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) within the first 2 weeks after the trauma. METHODS: 203 civilian survivors of recent trauma with relatively mild symptoms completed the DTS a mean of 8.7 days after experiencing trauma. SPAN scores were computed from the DTS. At a mean of 64.6 days posttrauma, 160 respondents were assessed for diagnosis of PTSD with the Structured Interview for PTSD. RESULTS: Receiver operating characteristic curves showed that the DTS showed good overall screening accuracy (84%). At a cut-off value of 64, the DTS demonstrated a sensitivity of 0.86, a specificity of 0.70, a positive predictive value (PPV) of 0.12, and a negative predictive value (NPV) of 0.98. Overall accuracy of the SPAN was good (89%). At a cut-off of 10 the SPAN showed a sensitivity of 0.86, a specificity of 0.86, a PPV of 0.22, and a NPV of 0.98. The low PPVs were possibly due to the low of prevalence of PTSD in our sample (4.4%). CONCLUSIONS: This study shows that both the DTS and the SPAN are comparably accurate in screening early trauma survivors at risk for developing PTSD. The very brief four-item SPAN may be preferred over the longer 17-item DTS especially in settings in which time and resources are limited. Future studies should aim to cross-validate these results in random samples.<p /><p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="1091-4269",
doi="10.1002/da.20441",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/da.20441"
}