Reliability of reports of violent victimization and posttraumatic stress disorder among men and women with serious mental illness
Corresponding Author
Lisa A. Goodman
Counseling Psychology Program, School of Education, Boston College
Boston College, School of Education, Campion 309, Chestnut Hill, MA 02467Search for more papers by this authorKim M. Thompson
Counseling Psychology Program, School of Education, Boston College
Search for more papers by this authorSusan Corl
Department of Psychiatry, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD
Search for more papers by this authorPat Acker
Department of Psychiatry, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD
Search for more papers by this authorKim T. Mueser
Dartmouth Medical School and New Hampshire-Dartmouth Psychiatric Research Center, Hanover, NH
Search for more papers by this authorStanley D. Rosenberg
Dartmouth Medical School and New Hampshire-Dartmouth Psychiatric Research Center, Hanover, NH
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Lisa A. Goodman
Counseling Psychology Program, School of Education, Boston College
Boston College, School of Education, Campion 309, Chestnut Hill, MA 02467Search for more papers by this authorKim M. Thompson
Counseling Psychology Program, School of Education, Boston College
Search for more papers by this authorSusan Corl
Department of Psychiatry, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD
Search for more papers by this authorPat Acker
Department of Psychiatry, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD
Search for more papers by this authorKim T. Mueser
Dartmouth Medical School and New Hampshire-Dartmouth Psychiatric Research Center, Hanover, NH
Search for more papers by this authorStanley D. Rosenberg
Dartmouth Medical School and New Hampshire-Dartmouth Psychiatric Research Center, Hanover, NH
Search for more papers by this authorAbstract
Although violent victimization is highly prevalent among men and women with serious mental illness (SMI; e.g., schizophrenia, bipolar disorder), future research in this area may be impeded by controversy concerning the ability of individuals with SMI to report traumatic events reliably. This article presents the results of a study exploring the temporal consistency of reports of childhood sexual abuse, adult sexual abuse, and adult physical abuse, as well as current symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among 50 people with SMI. Results show that trauma history and PTSD assessments can, for the most part, yield reliable information essential to further research in this area. The study also demonstrates the importance of using a variety of statistical methods to assess the reliability of self-reports of trauma history.
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