title: A validation study of the Korean version of SPAN.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The SPAN, which is acronym standing for its four components: Startle, Physiological arousal, Anger, and Numbness, is a short post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) screening scale. This study sought to develop and validate a Korean version of the SPAN (SPAN-K).
  
  
  METHODS
  Ninety-three PTSD patients (PTSD group), 73 patients with non-psychotic psychiatric disorders (psychiatric control group), and 88 healthy participants (normal control group) were recruited for this study. Participants completed a variety of psychiatric assessments including the SPAN-K, the Davidson Trauma Scale (DTS), the Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale (CAPS), and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Cronbach's α and test-retest reliability values for the SPAN-K were both 0.80. Mean SPAN-K scores were 10.06 for the PTSD group, 4.94 for the psychiatric control group, and 1.42 for the normal control group. With respect to concurrent validity, correlation coefficients were 0.87 for SPAN-K vs. CAPS total scores (p<0.001) and 0.86 for SPAN-K vs. DTS scores (p<0.001). Additionally, correlation coefficients were 0.31 and 0.42 for SPAN-K vs. STAI-S and STAI-T, respectively. Receiver operating characteristic analysis of SPAN-K showed good diagnostic accuracy with an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.87. The SPAN-K showed the highest efficiency at a cutoff score of 7, with a sensitivity of 0.83, a specificity of 0.81, positive predictive value (PPV) of 0.88, and negative predictive value (NPV) of 0.73.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results suggest that the SPAN-K had good psychometric properties and may be a useful instrument for rapid screening of PTSD patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, 505 Banpo-dong, Seocho-gu, Seoul 137-701, Korea.
authors.forename: Ho-Jun
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Seo
authors.forename: Sangkeun
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chung
authors.forename: Hyun-Kook
authors.initials: HK
authors.lastname: Lim
authors.forename: Ik-Seung
authors.initials: IS
authors.lastname: Chee
authors.forename: Kyoung-Uk
authors.initials: KU
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Ki-Chung
authors.initials: KC
authors.lastname: Paik
authors.forename: Daeho
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Sang-Yeol
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Seung-Ho
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Ryu
authors.forename: Jung Bum
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Tae-Suk
authors.initials: TS
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Won
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Jeong-Ho
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Chae
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D011580:Psychological Techniques; D056910:Republic of Korea; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology