title: Adaptation and psychometric properties of the German version of the Dissociative Experience Scale.
abstract: We introduce the 'Fragebogen zu Dissoziativen Symptomen' (FDS), a German adaptation of the Dissociative Experience Scale (DES) which was developed to screen for dissociation within an ICD-10 framework. In addition to the original 28 DES items, the FDS contains 16 items covering dissociative phenomena included in the ICD-10, particularly pseudoneurological conversion symptoms. The psychometric properties of the FDS were studied in 927 clinical and nonclinical subjects from different diagnostic groups and compared to results of American studies. The scale had good test-retest reliability of .88, high internal consistency (split-half = .90, Cronbach's alpha = .94) and good construct validity. These results indicate that the FDS may be a valuable screen for dissociative psychopathology in German-speaking countries.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Ernst-Moritz-Arndt University, Stralsund, Germany.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Spitzer
authors.forename: H J
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Freyberger
authors.forename: R D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Stieglitz
authors.forename: E B
authors.initials: EB
authors.lastname: Carlson
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Kuhn
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Magdeburg
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Kessler
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D004213:Dissociative Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis*; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales / Q000592:standards*; D011594:Psychometrics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity