The psychometric cross-cultural validation of the Impact of Event Scale

Data is presented from a sample drawn from the general Fiji population to standardise the Impact of Events Scale (IES) and to prepare percentile tables from which validating comparisons could be made with the scores of two target groups from a previous Fiji study. Detailed statistical analyses gave strong support for a general factor and marginal support for the two specified subscale/factors of the measure. Comparisons of group mean scores, and others using the percentile tables, gave confidence that the full IES rating scale was appropriate for the purpose for which it was used, and indicate that clinicians in Fiji might use the IES confidently to validate the judgments of traumatic stress they make from their interviews--presently they have no such psychometric tool available.