[The PTSD Checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5): comparing responsivity with the Outcome Questionnaire (OQ-45) and practical...

The PTSD Checklist for the DSM-5 (PCL-5) may be a suitable addition for routine outcome monitoring (ROM) for patients with PTSD.
AIM: To determine whether the PCL-5 is worth the extra effort that administration requires from the patient.
METHOD: Pretest and retest measurement results of the PCL-5 and the OQ-45 were compared head-to-head in 464 patients from the Sinai Center of Arkin.
RESULTS: The correlations between scores on the instruments were high and analysis of variance for repeated measurements revealed no difference in responsiveness. Comparison of Cohen's d (0.49 vs. 0.43) and Delta T (5.0 vs. 4.4), indicated a slightly better responsiveness of the PCL-5 and also the proportion of recovered patients was greater according to the PCL-5 compared to the OQ-SD.
CONCLUSION: At first glance, the PCL-5 and the OQ-SD were equally sensitive to detect change during treatment. However, the PCL-5 provided more detailed information about the nature and severity of symptomatology in an individual patient and with the PCL-5 we were slightly better able to demonstrate clinical significant change than with the OQ-SD. We recommend to add the PCL-5 to ROM for patients with PTSD.