A Systematic Review of Social Support Instruments for Measurement-Based Care in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder.

Publication Title

Current psychology (New Brunswick, N.J.)

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

6-1-2024

Keywords

washington; swedish

Abstract

PURPOSE: Social support is a treatment target for individuals with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) but is not systematically assessed in clinical care. This review evaluated the quality of patient-reported social support instruments used in PTSD research to identify candidates for measurement-based care (MBC) with this population.

METHOD: A systematic review identified all validated measures of social support used in research with traumatized populations after 1990. Instrument development/validation studies were then evaluated using components of the updated COSMIN guidelines. Instruments were rated for clinical utility and evidence of their psychometric properties in use with traumatized individuals was synthesized.

RESULTS: Twenty-nine instruments were identified across 231 studies. Evaluation of development articles found 14 instruments with sufficient evidence of content validity and internal consistency reliability that could be considered for clinical use. Of these, nine had comparable properties in traumatized samples and could be preliminarily included in MBC of social support in the treatment of PTSD. Additional studies on measures' responsiveness and test-retest reliability are needed.

CONCLUSIONS: Existing measures of social support could improve clinical care of PTSD when used routinely to provide feedback on this critical component of health. MBC of social support may also improve clinical care of other psychiatric conditions.

Area of Special Interest

Mental Health

Specialty/Research Institute

Behavioral Health

Specialty/Research Institute

Population Health

DOI

10.1007/s12144-024-05799-8

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