Keywords

Posttraumatic stress disorder, Critical care, Survivorship, Validation studies, Mental health, Psychometric

Abstract

Background: Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms are common in acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) survivors. Brief screening instruments are needed for clinical and research purposes. We evaluated internal consistency, external construct, and criterion validity of the Impact of Event Scale-6 (IES-6; 6 items) compared to the original Impact of Event Scale—Revised (IES-R; 22 items) and to the Clinician Administered PTSD Scale (CAPS) reference standard evaluation in ARDS survivors.

Methods: This study is a secondary analysis from two independent multi-site, prospective studies of ARDS survivors. Measures of internal consistency, and external construct and criterion validity were evaluated.

Results: A total of 1001 ARDS survivors (51% female, 76% white, mean (SD) age 49 (14) years) were evaluated. The IES-6 demonstrated internal consistency over multiple time points up to 5 years after ARDS (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.96; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.94 to 0.97). The IES-6 demonstrated stronger correlations with related constructs (e.g., anxiety and depression; |r| = 0.32 to 0.52) and weaker correlations with unrelated constructs (e.g., physical function and healthcare utilization measures (|r| = 0.02 to 0.27). Criterion validity evaluation with the CAPS diagnosis of PTSD in a subsample of 60 participants yielded an area under receiver operating characteristic curve (95% CI) of 0.93 (0.86, 1.00), with an IES-6 cutoff score of 1.75 yielding 0.88 sensitivity and 0.85 specificity.

Conclusions: The IES-6 is reliable and valid for screening for PTSD in ARDS survivors and may be useful in clinical and research settings.

Original Publication Citation

Hosey et al. Critical Care (2019) 23:276 https://doi.org/10.1186/s13054-019-2553-z

Document Type

Peer-Reviewed Article

Publication Date

2019

Publisher

Critical Care

Language

English

College

Family, Home, and Social Sciences

Department

Psychology

University Standing at Time of Publication

Full Professor

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Psychology Commons

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