The Physician-Administered PTSD Scale (CAPS) is a standardized diagnostic interview for post-traumatic stress disorder that is well-validated and frequently used. It was created at the National PTSD Center in the early 1990s using DSM-III PTSD criteria and has since been revised (Franklin et al., 2018). For example, behavioral anchors are used in CAPS-5 to avoid bias and allow users to score the overall intensity of symptoms or label symptoms as absent or present (Franklin et al., 2018). Questionnaires like the CAPS-5 are a perfect approach to collecting a lot of data from a large number of individuals. The potential for generalizability of survey results is linked to the cost-effectiveness advantage. Questionnaires, in general, enable academics to acquire data from huge groups of people at a minimal cost (Wang & Cheng, 2020). It is also a dependable approach since it is standardized, meaning that participants are asked the same questions in the same way. However, because of the broad nature of the questions, survey findings may need additional verification and examination.
The CAPS-5 Questionnaire is appropriate for general usage in the context of cultural variety. However, an issue may still develop since some of the symptoms identified are difficult to grasp for patients from other nations. As a result, the idea of customizing the survey by translating it into many languages may be explored (Weathers et al., 2018). Anyone gathering data from responders owes it to each individual participant to respect his or her autonomy. Any questionnaire must be performed in an ethical and scientifically sound manner. Confidentiality and informed permission are the two most important ethical considerations while gathering the information (Menzel, 2019). The respondent’s right to privacy must always be maintained, as must any legal data protection obligations.
References
Franklin, C. L., Raines, A. M., Chambliss, J. L., Walton, J. L., & Maieritsch, K. P. (2018). Examining various subthreshold definitions of PTSD using the Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale for DSM-5. Journal of Affective Disorders, 234, 256-260.
Menzel, D. C. (2019). Ethics management in public organizations: What, why, and how?. In Handbook of Administrative Ethics (pp. 355-366). Routledge.
Wang, X., & Cheng, Z. (2020). Cross-sectional studies: Strengths, weaknesses, and recommendations. Chest, 158(1), 65-71.
Weathers, F. W., Bovin, M. J., Lee, D. J., Sloan, D. M., Schnurr, P. P., Kaloupek, D. G. & Marx, B. P. (2018). The Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale for DSM–5 (CAPS-5): Development and initial psychometric evaluation in military veterans. Psychological Assessment, 30(3), 383.