title: Validation of a brief measure of posttraumatic stress disorder: the Distressing Event Questionnaire (DEQ).
abstract: The Distressing Event Questionnaire (DEQ) is a brief instrument for assessing posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) according to criteria provided in Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed.). The DEQ possesses high internal consistency and exhibited satisfactory short-term temporal stability in studies with Vietnam War combat veterans and battered women. In a sample of Vietnam War veterans and 4 separate samples of abused women (with histories of incest, rape, intimate partner abuse, or prostitution and abuse), the DEQ exhibited very good discriminative validity when judged against structured interview assessment of PTSD. The DEQ exhibited strong convergent validity with other PTSD measures and other indexes of adjustment and also exhibited strong convergent validity as a measure of PTSD across ethnic groups in both the veteran sample and the combined women's sample.
authors.affiliation: National Center for PTSD, Pacific Islands Division, Department of Veterans Affairs, VAM&ROC, Honolulu, Hawai'i 96813, USA. kubany@pixi.com
authors.forename: E S
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Kubany
authors.forename: M B
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Leisen
authors.forename: A S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Kaplan
authors.forename: M P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Kelly
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D018585:Battered Women / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D002648:Child; D002649:Child Abuse; D005006:Ethnicity / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007179:Incest; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales / Q000592:standards*; D011594:Psychometrics; D011902:Rape; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D011477:Sex Work; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000523:psychology; D014481:United States; D014728:Veterans / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*