Objective: Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is associated with impaired parenting, child mental health problems, and family dysfunction. Public service agencies, such as child welfare, may serve as critical points of entry to services for families impacted by caregiver PTSD; however, assessment of trauma and PTSD among caregivers is not always systematically incorporated into service planning. The Structured Trauma-Related Experiences and Symptoms Screener for Adults (STRESS-A) was developed to address barriers to screening and assessment by providing an easy-to-administer tool for use by clinically and nonclinically trained professionals. The current study evaluated the reliability and validity of the STRESS-A among fathers and mothers (N = 1245) referred by child protective services (CPS) to receive an intervention to reduce domestic violence.
Methods: Caregivers enrolled in the intervention completed the STRESS-A, along with measures of co-occurring mental health concerns.
Results: The STRESS-A demonstrated satisfactory internal reliability across the full sample and within maternal and paternal subsamples. Construct validity was supported by well-fitting models of the DSM-5 symptom structure. Convergent validity was supported by strong correlations with scores on measures of commonly occurring comorbid symptoms (e.g., depression, anxiety). Measurement invariance testing revealed that PTSD symptom factor loadings may not be equivalent between mothers and fathers when using the DSM-5 four-factor, DSM-IV three-factor, or one-factor models.
Conclusion: The study supports the STRESS-A as a reliable and valid tool for measuring PTSD symptoms in caregivers with current domestic violence and CPS involvement. Findings indicate further research investigating symptom structure differences between mothers and fathers. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).