The Translation and Validation of the Primary Care Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Screen for DSM-5 (PC-PTSD-5) for Spanish-Speaking Adults

Abstract

Due to many systemic, practical, and cultural barriers, the Latinx population tends to underutilize mental health care services. It is common to use a primary care provider for mental health concerns. Therefore, primary care settings may be ideal locations to assess and treat mental illness for this population. Brief mental health screeners can aid providers with this task, but unfortunately, there are very few posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) screeners available in Spanish that also have documentation on the translation process and psychometric properties of the screener. This is a concerning disparity given the high percentage of Spanish speakers in the United States. To address the disparity of Spanish trauma and PTSD screeners, this present study translated and validated the Primary Care PTSD Screen for DSM-5 (PC-PTSD-5) into Spanish for Mexican American Adults. The translation process integrated a multi-step process to thoroughly account for culture. To validate the translation, 173 Spanish-speaking participants completed a survey that included the Spanish PC-PTSD-5 in addition to supplementary measures. Participants (n = 34) then elected to participate in a PTSD diagnostic interview to determine the screener’s diagnostic accuracy with a receiving operating characteristic curve analysis. The translated screener was found to have fair internal consistency (α = .75) and excellent diagnostic accuracy (n =34; AUC = 0.885, 95% CI [0.74-1.0]). A cutoff score of 2 was determined to have the highest optimization of sensitivity and specificity (sensitivity% = 0.83, specificity% = 0.86). Therefore, this Spanish translation of the PC-PTSD-5 has the potential to be utilized in a variety of settings such as primary care clinics, to help detect symptoms of PTSD so that patients can be offered the proper care and treatment.