An explorative study of the Chinese Pictorial Version of Children's Dissociative Experiences Scale and Posttraumatic Symptom Inventory

Introduction

Psychometric tools for assessing or screening young children with complex trauma and dissociation based on their own subjective experience are very limited. The present study aimed to explore the applicability of the Chinese translated pictorial version of Children's Dissociative Experiences Scale and Posttraumatic Symptom Inventory (CDES/PTSI) for children aged 5 to 11.

Objective

To examine the psychometric properties of the newly developed Chinese Pictorial Version of Children's Dissociative Experiences Scale and Posttraumatic Symptom Inventory (CP-CDES/PTSI) in a group of Chinese young children.

Method

The CP-CDES/PTSI was administered to (N = 85) children aged from 5 to 11 for trial use. The Child Trauma Screen (CTS) and Child Dissociative Checklist (CDC) were selected as criterion scales to measure children's dissociative and post-traumatic stress symptoms, as reported by their caregivers. The scale reliability was measured by Cronbach's alpha, the Guttman split-half reliability and index of coefficient Omega. The validity was assessed by correlation, hierarchical regression and multimodal analyses. ANOVA was used to conduct subgroup analysis to investigate the applicability of the instrument on younger children.

Results

The CP-CDES/PTSI presented with good internal reliability as well as established convergent and predictive validity to dissociative symptoms. The total score was significantly associated with dissociative symptoms in children as reported by their caregivers. A majority (78 %) of children aged between 60 and 71 months could comprehend and finish the test satisfactorily, while all children aged 72 months or above in the group could comprehend the test competently.

Conclusion

The findings suggested that the CP-CDES/PTSI can be used with children with age as young as 5 in a Chinese population.