The 62-item Potential Stressful Events Interview (PSEI) was
designed for use in the DSM-IV PTSD Field Trial to provide
descriptive data on prevalence of traumatic events. It provides
information on exposure to traumatic events as well as PTSD. It is
a comprehensive interview with five parts: (1) demographics; (2)
low magnitude stressors in the last year such as job loss and
serious illness; (3) high magnitude stressors such as combat or
military experience or witness to someone being seriously injured;
(4) objective characteristics of the prominent high and low
magnitude events; and, (5) subjective characteristics of these
prominent events. The final part (5) is a self-report that examines
15 emotional responses such as surprised or ashamed and 10 physical
reactions such as shortness of breath and rapid heart rate. It can
be used for both research and clinical purposes.
A subsection of
the PSEI, called the National Women's Study Event History (NWSEH),
interview can be administered independently of the other sections
of the PSEI. TheNWSEH takes 15-30 minutes to administer and covers
the full range ofhigh magnitude stressor events with very detailed
assessments of sexual and physical assault events.
Sample Item
At anytime during your life, has anyone used force or threats of
force to make you have some type of unwanted sexual contact?
References
Resnick, H. S., Falsetti, S. A., Kilpatrick, D. G., &
Freedy, J. R. (1996). Assessment of rape and other civilian
trauma-related post-traumatic stress disorder: Emphasis on
assessment of potentially traumatic events. In T. W. Miller (Ed.),
Stressful life events (pp. 231-266). Madison: International
Universities Press.
To obtain scale contact
Dean Kilpatrick, PhD
National Crime Victims Research and Treatment Center
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
171 Ashely Ave.
Charleston, SC 29425-0742
