A short form of the Mississippi Scale for measuring change in combat-related PTSD

In large-scale surveys or program evaluations, investigators most often wish to assess multiple domains of functioning, while at the same time minimizing the overall length of the data collection protocols. In addition, studies of treatment interventions require instruments which offer the greatest opportunity of detecting change in the variables of interest. Toward these ends, we present an 11-item version of the Mississippi Scale for Combat-Related PTSD. The sample was composed of 436 war zone veterans who received specialized outpatient treatment for PTSD, and who were followed up in 4-month intervals for 1 year. Items were identified for inclusion in a short scale on half of the sample. The scale was then cross-validated on the other half. This short form of the Mississippi Scale has good internal consistency, good correspondence with the full scale, significant sensitivity to change in symptom severity, and significant relationships between change and clinicians' ratings of improvement after 1 year, number of treatment sessions received and number of months in treatment.