Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Questionnaire [PTSD Checklist-17]

Analysis

The Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Questionnaire (PTSD Checklist-17) consists of 17 items and is designed to assess symptoms associated with post-traumatic stress disorder. It evaluates three main symptom domains: re-experiencing of the traumatic event, including intrusive and recurrent thoughts, images, dreams, and memories; emotional numbing and avoidance of trauma-related stimuli; and anxious and depressive symptoms, such as sleep difficulties and anger outbursts.

The questionnaire is intended for use with adults and can generally be completed within approximately 10 minutes.

Purpose

The primary purpose of the PTSD Checklist-17 is to assess the presence and severity of symptoms associated with post-traumatic stress disorder following exposure to a traumatic event.

The instrument can be used to support the identification of individuals presenting elevated levels of trauma-related symptomatology and to provide a quantitative estimate of symptom burden.

Scoring

Participants indicate the extent to which each statement applies to them using a five-point Likert-type scale:

1 = Not at all, 2 = A little, 3 = Moderately, 4 = Quite a bit, 5 = Extremely.

A second scoring approach may be used to examine whether the pattern of reported symptoms is consistent with diagnostic criteria for post-traumatic stress disorder.

Statistical Analysis

The total score is calculated by summing the responses to all 17 items, producing a possible score range from 17 to 85.

Higher total scores indicate greater severity of post-traumatic stress symptoms, including more frequent re-experiencing of the traumatic event, stronger emotional responses associated with the trauma, and higher levels of anxiety-related symptomatology.

The resulting scores may also be used in descriptive analyses, comparisons between groups, correlation analyses, and the examination of changes in symptom severity over time.

Validity and Reliability

Regarding internal consistency, the reported Cronbach’s alpha coefficients for the three subscales are:

• Re-experiencing of the traumatic event: α = 0.75
• Emotional numbing: α = 0.71
• Anxious and depressive symptoms: α = 0.70

Exploratory factor analysis has also been reported to support the construct validity of the questionnaire.

References

Andrykowski, M. A., Cordova, M. J., Studts, J. L., & Miller, T. W. (1998). Posttraumatic stress disorder after treatment for breast cancer: Prevalence of diagnosis and use of the PTSD Checklist—Civilian Version (PCL-C) as a screening instrument. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 66(3), 586.

Forte, G., Favieri, F., Tambelli, R., & Casagrande, M. (2020). COVID-19 pandemic in the Italian population: Validation of a post-traumatic stress disorder questionnaire and prevalence of PTSD symptomatology. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(11), 4151.

Smith, M. Y., Redd, W., DuHamel, K., Vickberg, S. J., & Ricketts, P. (1999). Validation of the PTSD Checklist–Civilian Version in survivors of bone marrow transplantation. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 12(3), 485–499.