Adaptation and Contextualization of the PC-PTSD-5 for Application to Postpartum Women in the Czech Republic

Abstract Background Many instruments have been developed to screen for postpartum post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). These measures are often lengthy, an undesirable quality when a brief screen is required as an element of a larger screening and assessment battery. The Primary Care PTSD screen for DSM 5 (PC-PTSD-5) is a generic PTSD measure that is brief and easy to complete and comprising just five items. The current study sought to adapt the PC-PTSD-5 for the Czech postpartum PTSD screening context and describe psychometric properties. Methods A cross-sectional design. Distributional characteristics, confirmatory factor analysis, convergent and divergent characteristics of a translated and adapted version of the PC-PTSD-5 were examined in a large sample (N = 985) of postpartum women in the Czech Republic. Results The adapted version of the PC-PTSD-5 demonstrated generally acceptable or good psychometric properties across the range of indices examined. The adapted PC-PTSD-5 demonstrated a two-factor structure in this population: “Internal processing” (Question 1, 2, 5) and “Autonomic dysregulation” (Question 3, 4). Conclusion The adapted PC-PTSD-5 would appear to be suitable for screening for postpartum PTSD in the Czech context. Further research is required to understand any additional utility of the two sub-scales (from the factor model) and the most appropriate cut-off values.