Citation

Lang AJ, Laffaye C, Satz LE, Dresselhaus TR, Stein MB. J. Trauma. Stress 2003; 16(3): 257-264.

Affiliation

Psychology Service, VA San Diego Healthcare System, San Diego, California, USA. ajlang@ucsd.edu

Copyright

(Copyright © 2003, International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1023/A:1023796007788

PMID

12816338

Abstract

PTSD affects a substantial number of women in medical settings and is associated with significant distress and impairment. There are effective methods of treating trauma-related distress, but a minority seek such care. Thus, primary care is an important setting in which to identify individuals with PTSD. We sent questionnaires, including the PTSD Checklist--Civilian Version (PCL-C), to 419 female veterans who were seen in our primary care clinic in 1998; 56% (N = 221) returned the measures. A random subset (n = 49) was interviewed to establish psychiatric diagnoses. The results provide qualified support for the use of the PCL-C total score with a lowered cutoff score as a screening measure for PTSD in female veterans in primary care.

Language: en