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The trauma symptom inventory: Italian validation of an instrument for the assessment of post-traumatic symptoms

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 March 2011

E. Gambetti ,
L. Bensi ,
R. Nori  and
F. Giusberti
E. Gambetti*
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Psicologia, Università degli Studi di Bologna, Viale Berti Pichat, 5, 40127 Bologna, Italy
L. Bensi
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Psicologia, Università degli Studi di Bologna, Viale Berti Pichat, 5, 40127 Bologna, Italy
R. Nori
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Psicologia, Università degli Studi di Bologna, Viale Berti Pichat, 5, 40127 Bologna, Italy
F. Giusberti
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Psicologia, Università degli Studi di Bologna, Viale Berti Pichat, 5, 40127 Bologna, Italy
*
*Address for correspondence: Elisa Gambetti, Department of Psychology, University of Bologna, Viale Berti Pichat, 5, 40127 Bologna, Italy. (Email: e.gambetti@unibo.it)
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Abstract

Aim.

The trauma symptom inventory (TSI; Briere, 1995) is a useful instrument for the assessment of post-traumatic and common trauma-related mental health symptoms. The purpose of the study was to validate the Italian version of the original TSI.

Methods.

Participants from non-clinical (n = 285), clinical (n = 110) and post-traumatic (n = 30) samples completed the TSI as part of a battery that included self-report measures of trauma exposure [MMPI-2 PK scale and Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R)] and of psychological symptoms [brief symptom inventory (BSI) and symptom questionnaire (SQ)]. TSI validity scales were compared with MMPI-2 validity scales in order to assess convergent validity.

Results.

The TSI Italian version showed adequate internal consistency reliability and a good convergent validity. Discriminant function analysis indicates a classification accuracy of TSI scales of 90% for true-positive and 91.4% for true-negative post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) cases. A revised three-factor structural model, which demonstrated an adequate and the best fit for the data, was proposed.

Conclusions.

The study extended the generalization and validity of TSI and provided some suggestions for eventually revisiting factorial structure of the questionnaire.

Keywords

Diagnostic techniques and procedurespost-traumatic stress disordertrauma symptom inventoryvalidation studies
Type
Original Articles
Information
Epidemiology and Psychiatric Sciences , Volume 20 , Issue 4 , December 2011 , pp. 345 - 355
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

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