6.125 SCREENING FOR POSTTRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER AMONG JAPANESE YOUTH: PSYCHOMETRIC PROPERTIES OF THE UCLA POSTTRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER REACTION FOR DSM-5

• Published in: Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Vol. 55; no. 10; p. S244
• Main Authors: Takada, Saeko, Kameoka, Satomi, Okuyama, Makiko, Fujiwara, Takeo, Iwadare, Yoshitaka, Kato, Hiroshi, Shima, Yumi, Fujibayashi, Takeshi, Kouyama, Daisuke, Asano, Yasuko
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Baltimore Elsevier BV 01.10.2016
• Subjects: Arousal; Asian people; Avoidance behavior; Child & adolescent psychiatry; Child Abuse; Child abuse & neglect; Child guidance; Child welfare; Childhood; Children; Clinical research; Cognition; Convergent validity; Earthquakes; English language; Guidance; Intrusion; Japanese language; Medical screening; Mood; Post traumatic stress disorder; Posttraumatic Stress Disorder; Psychological trauma; Psychometrics; Quantitative psychology; Reactivity; Reliability; Suffering; Trauma; Validity; Victims; Youth; Japan
• ISSN: 0890-8567; 1527-5418

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to determine the reliability and validity of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) PTSD Reaction Index for DSM-5 (PTSD-RI-5) among Japanese youth. In recent years, it is known that there are a great number of children who experience trauma in Japan. The number of child abuse cases has continued to rise, and recorded 37,020 minors aged under 18 years were sent to child welfare authorities as suspected victims of child abuse in 2015. Furthermore, on March 11, 2011, Japan experienced the Great East Japan Earthquake (GEJE). After the GEJE, a considerable proportion of children were affected mentally. Although the impact of suffering trauma during childhood or the importance of care for children who suffer trauma are identified, there are only a few tools for assessing children's trauma in Japan. With this given situation, it is very important to conduct an assessment among children who suffer from trauma and set up a treatment plan according to their traumatic symptoms caused by their respective experiences. Methods: This study was conducted within the child guidance center, child psychiatric hospital, tsunami-devastated area, and random population. The participants consisted of 318 youth (males = 151; females = 162, ages 6-18 years). PTSD-RI-5 and Trauma Symptom Checklist for Children (TSCC-A) were used in this study. Results: It is shown that the PTSD-RI-5 in Japan is significantly reliable at a = 0.85. In addition, the results showed that the subcategories of the PTSD-RI-5, namely B (intrusion), C (avoidance), D (negative alterations in cognition and mood), and E (alterations in arousal and reactivity), were correlated significantly with TSCC-A. Conclusions: The Japanese version of PTSD-RI-5 showed as good internal consistency and convergent validity as the original English version. Similar to the original version, we found good psychometric properties, and PTSD-RI-5 was judged as adequate instrument for clinical and research purposes in Japan.