title: Confirmatory factor analysis of posttraumatic stress symptoms in Brazilian primary care patients: an examination of seven alternative models.
abstract: The DSM-IV-TR postulates that PTSD symptoms are organized into 3 clusters. This assumption has been challenged by growing number of factor analytical studies, which tend to favor 4-factor, first-order models. Our objective was to investigate whether the clusters of PTSD symptoms identified in North American and European studies could be replicated in a Brazilian sample composed of 805 primary care patients living in hillside slums. Volunteers were asked to fill out the Brazilian version of the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist-Civilian Version and a confirmatory factor analysis of this scale was conducted with the software LISREL 8.80. Seven models were tested and a 4-factor, first-order solution including an emotional numbing cluster was found to provide the best fit. Although PTSD has been characterized by some critics as a Western culture-specific disorder lacking universal validity, our results seem to uphold the cross-cultural validity of the 4-factor, first-order model.
authors: Department of Epidemiology and Statistics, Universidade Federal Fluminense (MEB-UFF), Rua Marquês do Paraná 303 - 3° andar do Prédio Anexo, Niterói, RJ, Brazil.
authors: Mariana Fernandes
authors: MF
authors: Costa
authors: Mauro Vitor
authors: MV
authors: Mendlowicz
authors: Ana Glória Godoi
authors: AG
authors: Vasconcelos
authors: William
authors: W
authors: Berger
authors: Mariana Pires da
authors: MP
authors: Luz
authors: Ivan
authors: I
authors: Figueira
authors: Maria Luiza
authors: ML
authors: Garcia Rosa
mesh_terms: D001938:Brazil; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008016:Life Change Events; D008297:Male; D008960:Models, Psychological; D011320:Primary Health Care; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011594:Psychometrics; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology