A potential problem with the response format of the dissociative experiences scale: A significant correlation with intelligence among combat veterans with PTSD
✍ Scribed by B. Christopher Frueh; Diane E. Johnson; Daniel W. Smith; Mark A. Williams
- Publisher
- Springer
- Year
- 1996
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 315 KB
- Volume
- 9
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0894-9867
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
Although dissociation represents an important area for clinical assessment among veterans being evaluated for combat-related posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) few adequate measures currently exist. The Dissociative Experiences Scale (DES; ), a 28-item questionnaire with a visual analogue scale (VAS) response format, has been widely used with PTSD and a variety of other psychiatric populations (e.g., . However, there is theoretical and empirical evidence to suggest that the validity of the DES may by diminished with certain populations (including veterans) in that it may be adversely effected by lower intelligence or impaired cognitive functioning .
To elaborate, the DES has been criticized on the grounds that the original test-retest reliability coefficient was based on data from a small sample size (12 adults and.14 adolescents), and shows such a large degree of variance that overlapping distributions may be a significant problem for interpretation of individual scores . Thus, the psychometric properties of this scale are a cause for some concern. Furthermore,