Author

John Briere, PhD

Description

Derived from the Detailed Assessment of Posttraumatic Stress (DAPS), the PSS is designed to quickly screen individuals for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and suicide risk.

Features and Benefits

The one-page self-report form consists of only 14 items, requiring just a few minutes to administer and score.

The PSS is helpful in determining PTSD and suicide risk for individuals exposed to a variety of traumas, including childhood abuse, adult sexual or physical assaults, disasters, motor vehicle accidents, shootings and stabbings, burns, life-threatening illnesses, invasive medical procedures, and events associated with military deployment.

Test Structure

The PSS consists of two scales: PTSD Risk (PR) and Suicide Risk (SR). The PR scale consists of eight items from the DAPS that, together, tap into aspects of all PTSD symptom clusters in both the DSM-IV-TR and the DSM-5 and best predict PTSD status. The SR scale consists of four items from the DAPS Suicidality scale that best index suicidal thoughts and behaviors.

The PSS generates risk indices based on empirically derived cutoff scores.

Technical information

Samples included a stratified, random normative sample of 446 trauma-exposed individuals from the general population and a clinical sample of 69 trauma-exposed individuals.

The PSS has good sensitivity and specificity for a DSM-IV-TR diagnosis of PTSD.
Reliability analyses indicated that both PR and SR scales are internally consistent, with alpha coefficients of .87 and .91, respectively.

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