The revised Clinician‐Administered PTSD scale for DSM‐5 (CAPS‐5‐R): Initial psychometric evaluation in a trauma‐exposed community sample

Abstract

AbstractThe Clinician‐Administered PTSD Scale for DSM‐5 (CAPS‐5) is a widely used, well‐validated structured interview for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). It was recently revised to improve various aspects of administration and scoring. We conducted a psychometric evaluation of the revised version, known as the CAPS‐5‐R. Participants were 73 community residents with mixed trauma exposure (e.g., sexual assault, physical assault, transportation accident, the unnatural death of a loved one). CAPS‐5‐R PTSD diagnosis demonstrated good test–retest reliability, кs = .73–.79; excellent interrater reliability, кs = .86–.93; and good‐to‐excellent alternate forms reliability with the CAPS‐5, кs = .79–.93. In addition, the CAPS‐5‐R total PTSD severity score demonstrated excellent test–retest reliability, intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) = .86; interrater reliability, ICC = .98; and alternate forms reliability with the CAPS‐5, r = .95. Further, the CAPS‐5‐R demonstrated good convergent validity with other measures of PTSD and good discriminant validity with measures of other constructs (e.g., depression, anxiety, alcohol problems, somatic concerns, mania). Given its strong psychometric performance in this study, as well as its improvements in administration and scoring, the CAPS‐5‐R appears to be a valuable update of the current CAPS‐5.