German version of Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale

This study assessed the reliability of a German translation of the Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale (CAPS) by using data from 45 survivors of accidents who were hospitalized at the department of traumatology of a university hospital. Assessments were carried out 5 days (Time 1) and 6 months (Time 2) after the accident. Internal consistency proved to be comparable to that of the original English version: Cronbach's alpha was .88 at T1 and .92 at T2 for the CAPS total score. The CAPS correlated significantly with the validated German version of the Impact of Event Scale (IES) (T1: r = .56, T2: r = .78). The data suggest that the German version of the CAPS is a reliable instrument for the assessment of posttraumatic stress disorder symptomatology in accident victims. Further studies are necessary to validate further the questionnaire.