(PS6-D82) Reliability and Validity of the Poreh Post Traumatic Stress Questionnaire (P-PTSQ)

Introduction: There has been mounting evidence of high rates of Factitious PTSD in various settings. Factitious PTSD refers to the idea that individuals may over-exaggerate or feign (pretend to be affected by) symptoms to obtain secondary benefits. However, some individuals with PTSD are also known for underexaggerating symptoms for other reasons (e.g., wanting to appear resilient). Therefore, it is pertinent that self-report measures for PTSD, employ a balanced ratio of reverse-keyed items to accurately detect PTSD and avoid potential over or underexaggerating symptoms. The Poreh Post Traumatic Stress Questionnaire (P-PTSQ) was developed as a new self-report scale measure for diagnosing PTSD. The scale contains twenty-eight items and four subscales corresponding with the B, C, D, and E criteria for PTSD in the DSM-V. An additional scale assessing resilience was also added to assist in treatment and prognosis. The P-PTSQ was compared with a commonly used measure for detecting PTSD, called the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5) to determine its accuracy and concurrent validity. Employing a sensitivity and specificity analysis, we predict that the P-PTSQ will accurately detect self-reported history of PTSD and will be highly correlated with the PCL-5.

Methods: 522 participants were recruited through Research Match to complete this study. The first group consisted of 177 volunteers who were previously diagnosed with PTSD.  The second group consisted of 119 volunteers previously diagnosed with anxiety or depression (ANX-DEP). The third group 130 consisted of volunteers without mental health history who were directed to simulate PTSD symptoms (SIM), and the fourth group consisted of 96 subjects without mental health history who served as a control group (NORM). Each subject was assigned to one of the experimental groups according to the self-reported psychiatric history. The simulation group then was informed of the common symptoms of PTSD through a publicly available YouTube video created by Isinsu (2016) and provided with instructions to simulate using a vignette. Finally, all participants completed the PCL-5 in addition to the P-PTSQ.

Results: A chi square analysis revealed that PTSD and anxiety-depression (ANX-DEP) groups reported a far higher rate of lifetime trauma than the simulation (SIM) and control groups (NORM), (χ2 = 82.3 (df=3), p< .001) and higher number of traumatic events (F(3, 518 ), F=46.5, p< 0.01, η2= .212). Further, the four groups obtained statistically different scores on the PCL-5, (F(3, 384) F= 115.6, < .001, η2= .475), with a similar pattern as the P-PTSQ, (F(3, 384) F= 93.7, p< .001, η2= .479). The PCL-5 and P-PTSQ are highly correlated (r = .85, p < .001). The sensitivity and specificity of these measures were identical, the area under the curve was .818 and .812, respectively.
Conclusions: Our findings support the P-PTSQ is not only a reliable and valid measure for detecting PTSD but could also serve as a useful tool for determining resiliency. Future studies are needed to assess the validity of the measure in clinical and forensic practice and its ability to identify subtypes of patients with PTSD. Clinical implications will be discussed.