Assessing symptom change in massed PTSD treatments: Psychometric evaluation of the past day posttraumatic stress disorder checklist for DSM-5.

Abstract

Objective: Massed posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) treatments, in which therapy is provided 3 days a week to multiple times a day, have become increasingly popular and implemented in various care settings since 2010. Existing assessment methods to monitor PTSD symptom change to inform clinical decision making and treatment benefit have not been adapted to this accelerated care model, causing significant clinical and statistical challenges. This study evaluates an intuitive solution to this problem by examining the psychometric properties of a Past Day version of the widely used PTSD Checklist for Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fifth edition (PCL-5).

Method: In the present study, we present findings from four massed PTSD treatment sites (N = 222) that used the Past Day PCL-5 to assess PTSD symptoms over the past day at each treatment appointment. Psychometric properties of the Past Day PCL-5 (i.e., internal consistency, test-retest reliability, sensitivity to change, and convergent validity) were analyzed by comparing the Past Day PCL-5 to Past Week and Past Month versions of the PCL-5, as well as the Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale for Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fifth edition.

Results: Consistent psychometric support for the Past Day PCL-5 was observed across sites.

Conclusions: These findings provide initial support for use of the Past Day PCL-5 in monitoring symptom change in the context of massed PTSD treatment. Limitations of the current data and recommendations for extension of this work are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).