Journal of Education and Health Promotion

Psychometric properties of acute stress disorder questionnaire for people exposed to Kerman earthquake

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

. Jafar Mirzaee
. Mina Nazari Kamal 1
. Rahele Samouei 2
. Zahra Heidari 3
. Nima Salehi 4

1 Department of Clinical Psychology, Faculty of Medical, Islamic Azad University of Birjand, Birjand, Iran

2 Social Determinants of Health Research Center, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences

3 Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Environment Research Center, School of Public Health, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran

4 MSc of General Psychology, Islamic Azad University of Kerman, Kerman, Iran

Abstract
BACKGROUND AND AIM: Some people exposed to disasters will suffer from acute stress
disorder (ASD) due to the negative consequences of these disasters. Evaluating this disorder at a
large scale requires a credible and standardized tool. Therefore, the current study aims to investigate
the psychometric properties of the ASD questionnaire for people exposed to Kerman earthquake.
METHODS: This is a descriptive‑tooling study, conducted on 435 men and women older than 18 years
living in earthquake‑affected areas of Kerman Province (Kouh‑e‑Banan). The study was carried out
using the Persian translating of the English version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental
Disorders, Fifth Edition ASD questionnaire on accessible individuals living in temporary residence
tents in two initial and final stages and different stages of validity and reliability evaluation was carried
out. The findings were analyzed using descriptive statistics and Pearson’s correlation coefficient.
RESULTS: During the evaluation of content validity, no questions were eliminated. To carry out
factor analysis, sampling competence, and suitability of sample size were confirmed through
Kaiser–Meyer–Olkin and Bartlett’s tests. In the factor analysis stage, 14 items in three factors were
defined. The factors were included reexperiencing and analysis, arousal (continuous irritability), and
avoidance factors which together explained 59.43% of percentage distribution. In the next stage
of evaluating divergent validity, the results indicated a significant and inverse correlation between
ASD score and quality of life score (r = −0.43, P = 0.002) of the participants, while there was also
a positive and significant correlation between ASD score and general health disorder score of
the participants (r = 0.47, P < 0.0001). The reliability of the questionnaire was investigated using
Cronbach’s alpha, and inner class correlation coefficient was calculated to be 0.9.
CONCLUSIONS: The tool investigated in this study has suitable validity and reliability and is effective
for use by psychologists and relief workers for necessary interventions and prevention of ASD in
disasters.

Keywords

Acute stress disorder
earthquake
Iran
Kerman
psychometrics
questionnaire
  1. The National Health and Medical Research Council. The
    Australian Guidelines for the Treatment of Acute Stress Disorder
    and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder were Approved. Phoenix
    Australia – Centre for Posttraumatic Mental Health; 2013.
    2. American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and Statistical
    Manual of Mental Disorders. 5th ed. Arlington, VA: American
    Psychiatric Association; 2013.
    3. Yoo S, Matsui Y. Acute stress reactions and posttraumatic
    stress symptoms of the general population six months after
    the great East Japan earthquake. Ann Psychiatry Ment Health
    2015;3:1021.
    4. Firoozabadi A, Asgharnejad Farid AA, Mirzaei J,
    Shareh H. Normalization of clinician administered PTSD
    scale‑version 1 (CAPS‑1) for psychological effects due to war.
    Iran J Psychiatry Clin Psychol 2010;15:334‑42.
    5. Wang Li, Li ZH, Shi ZH, Zhang Y, Shen J. Factor structure of
    acute stress disorder symptoms in Chinese earthquake victims:
    A confirmatory factor analysis of the acute stress disorder scale.
    Pers Individ Diff 2010;48:798‑802.
    6. Edmondson D, Mills MA, Park CL. Factor structure of the acute
    stress disorder scale in a sample of hurricane Katrina evacuees.
    Psychol Assess 2010;22:269‑78.
    7. Helfricht S, Landolt MA, Moergeli H, Hepp U, Wegener D,
    Schnyder U. Psychometric evaluation and validation of the
    German version of the acute stress disorder scale across two
    distinct trauma populations. J Trauma Stress 2009;22:476‑80.
    8. Bryant RA, Moulds ML, Guthrie RM. Acute stress disorder scale:
    A self‑report measure of acute stress disorder. Psychol Assess
    2000;12:61‑8.
    9. Bryant RA. Acute Stress Disorder: What it is and how to Treat it.
    Library of Congress Cataloging‑in‑Publication Data; 2016.
    10. Hyrkäs K, Appelqvist‑Schmidlechner K, Oksa L. Validating an
    instrument for clinical supervision using an expert panel. Int J
    Nurs Stud 2003;40:619‑25.
  2. 11. Nazifi M, Mokarami H, Akbaritabar A, Faraji Kujerdi M, TabriziR,
    Rahi A. Reliability, validity and factor structure of the Persian
    translation of general health questionnire (GHQ‑28) in hospitals
    of Kerman university of medical sciences. J Fasa Uni Med Sci
    2013;3:336‑42.
    12. Nejat S, Montazeri A, Halakouei Naeini K, Mohammad K,
    Majidzadeh R. Standardization of WHO quality of life
    questionnaire (WHOQOL‑BREF): Translation and psychometrics
    of Iranian species. J School Publi Health Ins Publi Health Res
    2006;4:1‑12.
    13. Trippolini MA, Dijkstra PU, Geertzen JH, Reneman MF.
    Measurement properties of the spinal function sort in patients
    with sub‑acute whiplash‑associated disorders. J Occup Rehabil
    2015;25:527‑36.
Journal of Education and Health Promotion
Volume 10, Issue 1
January 2020
Pages 1-6

Home

Guide for Authors

Submit Manuscript

Reviewers

Contact Us