Adaptation and preliminary validation of the Psychosocial Assessment Tool for War and Terrorism (PAT-WT)

The multifaceted risk associated with war and terrorism challenges professionals in providing care matched to needs. While exposure to war and terrorism situations elevates risks of various mental and physical health issues, risk factors are not uniform across individuals and may vary given less apparent but equally powerful sources of distress. Recognizing this challenge, we adapted the Psychosocial Assessment Tool (PAT), a brief screening tool of psychosocial risk, for individuals exposed to war and terrorism (PAT-WT).

First, an adaptation of the original PAT for the context of war and terrorism was conducted. Then, the new version (PAT-WT) was implemented in an expedited validation pilot study among N = 112 individuals with various types and levels of exposure to war- and terror-related traumatic events.

The PAT-WT was found to be valid and consistent with the original PAT. In addition, it correlated with the General-Health Questionnaire (ρ = 0.54, p < .01), indicating its ability to identify high emotional distress among war-exposed individuals. Larger clinical-risk groups were identified compared to prior PAT versions, highlighting the impacted population's vulnerability. However, community cohesion offered a buffer against posttraumatic stress.

While further validation is needed, the PAT-WT shows promise as a comprehensive tool for assessing psychosocial risk factors that may link to adverse biopsychosocial outcomes following exposure to extreme traumatic events related to war and conflict. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).