Developing the Premonitory Urges for Tic Disorders Scale-Revised (PUTS-R).

Area of Science:

• Psychiatry
• Neurology
• Clinical Psychology

Background:

• Patients with Gilles de la Tourette syndrome (GTS) or chronic tic disorders often experience premonitory urges before tics.
• The Premonitory Urges for Tic Disorders Scale (PUTS) is a standard tool for assessing the severity of these urges.
• Previous research indicates the PUTS may capture multiple dimensions of urges, including quality and severity.

Purpose of the Study:

• To replicate and extend prior findings on the psychometric properties of the PUTS.
• To investigate the underlying dimensions of premonitory urges in a large, diverse sample of GTS patients.
• To evaluate the PUTS's reliability and factor structure across different age groups (adults and minors).

Main Methods:

• A large sample of 241 patients diagnosed with GTS was recruited from three different sites.
• The sample included both adults (n=93) and minors (n=148).
• Psychometric properties of the PUTS were analyzed using reliability assessments and factor analysis on items 1-8.

Main Results:

• The PUTS demonstrated good reliability across all items for both adult and minor patient groups.
• Items 2-8 of the scale showed acceptable item characteristics.
• Factor analysis confirmed a two-factor structure for items 1-8 in both age cohorts, suggesting distinct dimensions of urges.

Conclusions:

• The findings support the reliability and utility of the PUTS in assessing premonitory urges in GTS.
• Minor modifications, such as rephrasing items 1 and 9, could enhance the scale's construct convergence.
• A revised PUTS with two subscales (urge severity and urge quality) is proposed, incorporating new items for comprehensive assessment.