Portuguese Version of the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5): Comparison of Latent Models and Other Psychometric Properties in a Sample of Fire Fighters

Abstract

<p>The PCL (Weathers et al., 1993) is a useful and widely used measure to assess PTSD symptoms in clinical and research contexts, exhibiting adequate psychometric properties across its several versions and translations (e. g. Carvalho et al., 2015; Wilkins et al., 2011). The current study analyzed the psychometric properties (latent structure, internal consistency, temporal reliability, and convergent validity) of the Portuguese version of the PCL for the DSM-5 (PCL-5, Weathers et al., 2013) in a sample of firefighters. This study also aimed to contribute with empirical data to clarify the best latent structure of DSM-5 PTSD symptoms. Specifically, the DSM-5 four-factor model and other competing models for PTSD symptoms (four-factor Dysphoria model, five-factor Dysphoric Arousal model, six-factor Anhedonia model, six-factor Externalizing Behavior model, and seven-factor Hybrid model) applied to PCL-5 were analyzed and compared in this paper.<br></p>