Post-traumatic Stress Disorder Classification in Parents of Children With Cancer

To examine differences between methods for classifying posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in parents of children with cancer and to assess a method for examining the new DSM-V PTSD criteria using the currently available symptom inventories. Participants were parents (N=125, 84% female) of children (55% female; 1-18 years) with cancer. Parents completed a demographic questionnaire, the Impact of Events Scale-Revised (IES-R), and the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI). Three previously published methods for classifying DSM-IV PTSD in pediatric oncology samples were applied to this sample (Creamer et al., 2003; Jurbergs et al., 2009; Stuber et al., 2011). In addition, the authors developed a method for examining the new DSM-V PTSD criteria by using items from the BSI to assess for negative alterations in cognitions and mood. Using previously established clinical cutoff scores for the IES-R (Creamer et al., 2003), 35.2% of parents were experiencing clinically significant levels of PTSD symptomatology. Following methodology utilized by Stuber and colleagues (2011), 32% of the sample met DSM-IV criteria for PTSD. Applying Jurbergs' et al. (2009) methods, 9.6% met DSM-IV criteria. Stuber and Jurbergs' methods yielded statistically different proportions for DSM-IV criteria (z=4.363, p