The Child PTSD Symptom Scale (CPSS)

Foa, 2001

Description

The CPSS is a 26-item self-report measure that assesses PTSD diagnostic criteria and symptom severity in children ages 8 to 18. It includes 2 event items, 17 symptom items, and 7 functional impairment items. Symptom items are rated on a 4-point frequency scale (0 = "not at all" to 3 = "5 or more times a week"). Functional impairment items are scored as 0 = "absent" or 1 = "present". The CPSS yields a total symptom severity scale score (ranging from 0 to 51) and a total severity-of-impairment score (ranging from 0 to 7). Scores can also be calculated for each of the 3 PTSD symptom clusters (i.e., B, C, and D).

Sample Items

The following are a few of the symptom items for this scale:

Circle the number that describes how often that problem has bothered you in the past month: Feeling upset when you think about it or hear about the event (for example, feeling scared, angry, sad, guilty, etc)

(Areas of functioning items): Have the above problems gotten in the way of... Relationships with your family (yes/no)

Versions

The CPSS is a child version of the Posttraumatic Diagnostic Scale (PDS; Foa et al., 1997). The language of the PDS was modified to incorporate developmentally appropriate language to maximize children's understanding of the items.

References

Foa, E. B., Johnson, K. M., Feeny, N. C., Treadwell, K. R. H. (2001). The Child PTSD Symptom Scale: A preliminary examination of its psychometric properties. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, 30, 376-384.

Additional Reviews

Ohan, J. L., Myers, K., Collett, B. R. (2002). Ten-year review of rating scales. IV: Scales assessing trauma and its effects. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 41, 1401-22.

To Obtain Scale

Edna Foa, PhD
Department of Psychiatry
University of Pennsylvania
3535 Market Street, 6th Floor
Philadelphia, PA 19104
Phone: (215) 746-3327
Email: foa@mail.med.upenn.edu

Measure availability: Information on measures is available to everyone. However, the assessment tools themselves can only be distributed to qualified mental health professionals and researchers. We maintain measures developed by affiliated staff of the National Center for PTSD.