An initial psychometric assessment of an ICD-11 based measure of PTSD and complex PTSD (ICD-TQ): Evidence of construct validity

Abstract

Among the conditions following exposure to traumatic life events proposed by ICD-11 are Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Complex PTSD (CPTSD). The primary aim of this study was to provide an assessment of the reliability and validity of a newly developed self-report measure of ICD-11 PTSD and CPTSD: the ICD-11 Trauma Questionnaire (ICD-TQ). Participants in this study were a sample of individuals who were referred for psychological therapy to a National Health Service (NHS) trauma centre in Scotland (N=193). Participants completed the ICD-TQ and measures of traumatic life events, DSM-5 PTSD, emotion dysregulation, self-esteem, and interpersonal difficulties. Confirmatory factor analysis results supported the factorial validity of the ICD-TQ with results in line with ICD-11 proposals. The ICD-TQ demonstrated satisfactory internal reliability, and correlation results indicated that the scale exhibited convergent and discriminant validity. Current results provide initial support for the psychometric properties of this initial version of the ICD-TQ. Future theoretical and empirical work will be required to generate a final version of the ICD-TQ that will match the diagnostic structure of PTSD and CPTSD when ICD-11 is published.

A psychometric assessment of Disturbances in Self-Organization symptom indicators for ICD-11 Complex PTSD using the International Trauma Questionnaire

“…Moreover, the latent symptom structure models that distinguish between PTSD and DSO symptomatology, in line with ICD-11 proposals, and previously supported using the full set of DSO items, were found to provide very close fit to the data. Indeed, the overall fit of these models based on the refined symptom sets were superior to those that have been previously reported (Hyland, Shevlin et al, 2017; Karatzias et al, 2016). It is important that psychometric models not only provide good model fit, but that they also possess clinical utility (Shevlin, Hyland, Karatzias, Roberts, & Bisson, 2017).…”

“…This resulted in the development of nine AD symptoms, reflecting hyper-activation and hypo-activation experiences, four NSC symptoms, and three DR symptoms. Early factorial validity studies that utilized the full set of potential symptom indicators provided support for the CPTSD proposals (Hyland, Shevlin et al, 2017; Hyland et al, 2017; Karatzias et al, 2016). Despite this empirical support there was a need to reduce the number of DSO symptoms in the ITQ to ensure that the CPTSD diagnosis aligns with the ICD-11’s emphasis on clinical utility and use of as few symptom indicators without compromising validity and diagnostic utility (Maercker et al, 2013).…”

“…Initial construct validation studies of the ITQ have been promising (e.g. Hyland, Shevlin et al, 2017; Hyland et al, 2017; Karatzias et al, 2016). However, to date, the focus of the psychometric research has been on testing the latent structure of CPTSD, but there has been no attempt to assess how the DSO symptoms perform in a diagnostic capacity.…”

A network analysis of anger, shame, proposed ICD-11 post-traumatic stress disorder, and different types of childhood trauma in foster care settings in a sample of adult survivors

“…A PTSD diagnosis requires a score of ≥ 2 (‘moderately’) for at least one symptom in each of the three dimensions. The ITQ showed good psychometric properties in initial evaluations (Karatzias et al, 2016, 2017; Cronbach’s α  = .84 in this study). We used the mean scores of the dimensions for the scale-level analysis.…”

“…It captures these symptoms on three dimensions: re-experiencing (three items), avoidance (two items), and sense of threat (two items). It can be used to estimate a self-reported ICD-11 PTSD diagnosis using the proposed criteria (Karatzias et al, 2016). A PTSD diagnosis requires a score of ≥ 2 (‘moderately’) for at least one symptom in each of the three dimensions.…”