Document Type : Original Article
Authors
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
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