Life Stressor Checklist - Revised (LSC-R)

Wolfe & Kimerling, 1997

Description

The Life Stressor Checklist-Revised is a self-report measure that assesses traumatic or stressful life events. The measure has a focus on events relevant to women such as abortion. The questionnaire includes 30 life events, including experiences with natural disasters, physical or sexual assault, death of a relative and other events and follows a yes/no format.

For endorsed events, respondents are asked to provide: age when event began, age when event ended, belief that they were in harm ("yes" or "no"), feelings of helplessness ("yes" or "no"). In addition, affect on life and how upsetting event was at the time are rated on a 5-point intensity scale (1="not at all;rdquo; to 5="extremely"). Respondents are asked to identify the 3 events that currently have the greatest impact on them. The LSC-R can be used for clinical or research purposes.

Sample Item

Has someone close to you died suddenly or unexpected (for example, an accident, sudden heart attack, murder or suicide)? ("yes" or "no")

References

Wolfe, J., & Kimerling, R. (1997). Gender issues in the assessment of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. In J. Wilson & T.M. Keane (Eds.), Assessing psychological trauma and PTSD (pp. 192-238). New York: Guilford.

Additional Reviews

Orsillo (2001) (PDF) p. 299.

Orsillo, Susan M. (2001). Measures for acute stress disorder and posttraumatic stress disorder. In M.M. Antony & S.M. Orsillo (Eds.), Practitioner's guide to empirically based measures of anxiety (pp. 255-307). New York: KluwerAcademic/Plenum. PILOTS ID 24368

Norris and Hamblen (2004) (PDF) p. 71.

Norris, Fran H. & Hamblen, Jessica L. (2004). Standardized self-report measures of civilian trauma and PTSD. In J.P. Wilson, T.M. Keane & T. Martin (Eds.), Assessing psychological trauma and PTSD (pp. 63-102). New York: Guilford Press. PILOTS ID 18638

To Obtain Scale

This measure was created by staff at the VA National Center for PTSD. To obtain this scale complete the online request form.

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.

VA Providers: Download the LSC-R from the Intranet.