Impact of Event Scale: psychometric properties.
BACKGROUND
For more than 20 years, the Impact of Event Scale (IES) has been widely used as a measure of stress reactions after traumatic events.


OBJECTIVE
To review studies that evaluated the IES's psychometric properties.


METHODS
Literature review.


RESULTS
The results indicated that the IES's two-factor structure is stable over different types of events, that it can discriminate between stress reactions at different times after the event, and that it has convergent validity with observer-diagnosed post-traumatic stress disorder. The use of IES in many psychopharmacological trials and outcome studies is supportive of the measure's clinical relevance.


CONCLUSIONS
The IES is a useful measure of stress reactions after a range of traumatic events, and it is valuable for detecting individuals who require treatment.
Sundin
Eva C
EC
Department of Psychology, Umea University, Umea, Sweden.
Horowitz
Mardi J
MJ
D003674:Defense Mechanisms; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008016:Life Change Events; D008297:Male; D010555:Personality Inventory / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011594:Psychometrics; D012016:Reference Values; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000523:psychology*