validity of the ptsd symptoms scale self report (pss-sr) in iran

objective: since1980, when post-traumatic stress disorder (ptsd) was officially recognized as a unique diagnostic entity and was included in the diagnostic and statistical manual-iii, a large body of research has been done in the assessment of this disorder. this study investigated the applicability of the persian form of the post-traumatic stress disorder symptom scale self report (pss-sr) in a group of iranians who had been directly involved in a disaster in iran (from may 4th 2002 to 20 april 2005). method: the participants were 109 individuals who had been directly involved in one of the three disasters which happened in iran: a- 20 adolescents who survived the boat sinking or witnessed it in tehran&apos;s city park on may 4th 2002; b- 50 persons who survived the bam earthquake; c- 39 persons who survived the accident in tehran&apos;s airport on april 20th 2005. the assessment measures used were the post-traumatic stress disorder symptom scale self report (pss-sr) and psychiatric interview based on dsm-iv-tr. results: 90 participants (81%) were diagnosed with ptsd using the pss-sr and 93 (83.8%) were diagnosed with ptsd by psychiatric interview. correlation coefficients between the pss-sr and the psychiatric interviews were significant (r= .62, p< .001). conclusion: the pss-sr appears to be an effective and efficient method of screening for ptsd.