The child and Adolescent Trauma Screen 2 (CATS-2) – validation of an instrument to measure DSM-5 and ICD-11 PTSD and complex PTSD in children and adolescents
Date
2022
Journal Title
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Publisher
European journal of psychotraumatology
Abstract
Background: The study examined the psychometric properties of the Child and Adolescent
Trauma Screen 2 (CATS-2) as a measure of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) according to
DSM-5 and (Complex) PTSD following the ICD-11 criteria in children and adolescents (7–17
years).
Methods: Psychometric properties were investigated in an international sample of
traumatized children and adolescents (N = 283) and their caregivers (N = 255). We examined
the internal consistency (α), convergent and discriminant validity, the factor structure of the
CATS-2 total scores, latent classes of PTSD/Complex PTSD (CPTSD) discrimination, as well as
the diagnostic utility using ROC-curves.
Results: The DSM-5 total score (self: α = .89; caregiver: α = .91), the ICD-11 PTSD total score (self:
α = .67; caregiver: α = .79) and the ICD-11 CPTSD total score (self: α = .83; caregiver: α = .87)
have proven acceptable to excellent reliability. The latent structure of the 12-item ICD-11
PTSD/CPTSD construct was consistent with prior findings. Latent profile analyses revealed
that ICD-11 CPTSD was empirically distinguishable from ICD-11 PTSD using the CATS-2.
ROC-analysis using the CAPS-CA-5 as outcome revealed that CATS-2 DSM-5 PTSD scores of
≥21 (screening) to ≥25 (diagnostic) were optimally efficient for detecting probable DSM-5
PTSD diagnosis. For the ICD-11 PTSD scale scores of ≥7 (screening) to ≥9 (diagnostic) were
optimally efficient for detecting probable DSM-5 PTSD diagnosis.
Conclusions: The CATS-2 is a brief, reliable and valid measure of DSM-5 PTSD, ICD-11 PTSD and
CPTSD symptomatology in traumatized children and adolescents, allowing crosswalk between
diagnostic systems using one measure.
Description
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Article
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Keywords
trauma, PTSD, children, DSM-5, assessment, psychometrics, ICD-11, International Resources
Citation
Sachser, C., Berliner, L., Risch, E., Rosner, R., Birkeland, M. S., Eilers, R., ... & Jensen, T. K. (2022). The child and Adolescent Trauma Screen 2 (CATS-2)–validation of an instrument to measure DSM-5 and ICD-11 PTSD and complex PTSD in children and adolescents. c, 13(2), 2105580.