Assessing post-traumatic stress symptoms in a Latino prison population

International Journal of Prisoner Health
José N CaraballoCarmen E Albizu-García

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to assess the reliability and validity of the Spanish version of the Davidson trauma scale (DTS-S) and to determine the prevalence and correlates of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms in a non-clinical random sample of prison inmates. Probabilistic samples of 1,179 inmates from 26 penal institutions in Puerto Rico were selected using a multistage sampling design. Population estimates and correlations were obtained for PTSD, generalized anxiety and depression. The reliability, factor structure, and convergent validity of the DTS-S were assessed. Cross-validation was employed to confirm the results of the factor analyses. Using the cut-offs adopted by the scale's author, 136 (13.4 percent) of the inmates are likely to have current PTSD and 117 (11.6 percent) reach the cut-off for sub-threshold PTSD. Confirmatory factor analysis generated two factors explaining 53 percent of the variance. High reliabilities were obtained for the total scale (α=0.95) and for the frequency and severity scales (α=0.90 and 0.91). Significantly higher DTS-S scores were found for females (t=2.26, p<0.025), for inmates diagnosed with depression or anxiety (t=2.02, p<0.05), and those reporting suicide attempts (t=4...Continue Reading

References

May 1, 1979·Psychosomatic Medicine·M HorowitzW Alvarez
Aug 1, 1991·Psychological Medicine·J R DavidsonL K George
Mar 1, 1991·Archives of General Psychiatry·N BreslauE Peterson
Dec 1, 1995·Archives of General Psychiatry·R C KesslerC B Nelson
Jun 1, 1995·Journal of Personality Assessment·T J SheehanH Tennen
Apr 1, 1996·The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease·C ZlotnickT Pearlstein
Jun 1, 1996·Archives of General Psychiatry·L A TeplinG M McClelland
Mar 1, 1997·Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry·H SteinerZ Matthews
Jan 1, 1997·Psychological Medicine·J R DavidsonM E Feldman
Jan 27, 1998·The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease·C Zlotnick
Mar 21, 1998·Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology·G Andrews, L Peters
Apr 29, 1998·Psychiatric Services : a Journal of the American Psychiatric Association·H R Lamb, L E Weinberger
Sep 1, 1999·Journal of Traumatic Stress·L E GibsonE L Turbitt
Jun 5, 2001·Depression and Anxiety·F W WeathersJ R Davidson
Sep 14, 2001·Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences·C H ChenM L Lu
Jan 30, 2003·Canadian Journal of Psychiatry. Revue Canadienne De Psychiatrie·Naomi Breslau
Jun 28, 2007·Criminal Behaviour and Mental Health : CBMH·Ashley GoffDavid Purves
Apr 9, 2008·Comprehensive Psychiatry·Ho-Jun SeoUNKNOWN Disaster Psychiatry Committee, Korean Academy of Anxiety Disorders
Jul 11, 2009·Harm Reduction Journal·Carmen E Albizu-GarcíaJosé F Rodríguez-Orengo
Jan 16, 2010·The Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry·Lisa K RichardsonRonald Acierno
Jun 3, 2010·Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology·Carmen L Rivera-MedinaElixmahir Dávila-Marrero
Oct 13, 2010·Journal of Trauma & Dissociation : the Official Journal of the International Society for the Study of Dissociation (ISSD)·Sükriye BoşgelmezJulian D Ford
Dec 4, 2010·International Journal of Law and Psychiatry·Ariel EytanGérard Niveau
May 17, 2011·International Journal of Methods in Psychiatric Research·Isla Gemmell, Graham Dunn

❮ Previous
Next ❯

Related Concepts

Related Feeds

Anxiety Disorders

Discover the latest research on anxiety disorders including agoraphobia, panic disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder here.