A Conversion Crosswalk for the UCLA PTSD Reaction Index: Translating DSM-IV to DSM-5

Area of Science:

• Psychiatry and Psychology
• Clinical Psychology
• Child and Adolescent Mental Health

Background:

• Patient-reported outcome measures are vital for assessing mental health in research and clinical settings.
• Specific versions of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) measures exist for child and adolescent populations, aligned with DSM-IV and DSM-5 criteria.
• Discrepancies in clinical thresholds, item count, and score ranges across different measure versions hinder cross-study comparisons.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a score conversion crosswalk between the UCLA PTSD Reaction Index for DSM-IV (RI-IV) and the DSM-5 (RI-5) for child and adolescent populations.
• To facilitate the comparison of self-report PTSD symptom ratings across different diagnostic criteria versions.
• To aid clinicians and researchers in interpreting and comparing data obtained from distinct PTSD assessment tools.

Main Methods:

• Item Response Theory (IRT) was employed to calibrate the RI-IV and RI-5 measures independently, deriving scaled scores.
• Equipercentile linking was used to connect the scaled scores from the two measures.
• Common items between the RI-IV and RI-5 served as anchors to improve the accuracy of the score linking.

Main Results:

• A total of 1,486 children and adolescents participated, with 571 completing the RI-IV and 915 completing the RI-5.
• IRT discrimination parameters for RI-IV ranged from 0.57 to 2.08, and for RI-5 from 0.73 to 2.11.
• The developed score conversion crosswalk enables the comparison of linked scores and the establishment of recommended clinical cutoffs.

Conclusions:

• The generated score conversion crosswalk provides a valuable tool for comparing PTSD assessment data across DSM-IV and DSM-5 versions in youth.
• This resource helps elucidate the impact of diagnostic criterion changes on the measurement of self-reported PTSD symptoms in pediatric populations.
• The study supports consistent and comparable assessment of PTSD symptoms in children and adolescents, regardless of the specific measure version used.