Assessment of PTSD in Older Veterans: The Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist: Military Version (PCL-M)

Abstract

The Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Checklist: Military Version (PCL-M) is a 17-item, self-report measure of PTSD symptomatology in military veterans and provides one total score and four subscale scores for older veterans’ PTSD (re-experiencing, avoiding, numbing, and hyperarousal symptoms). Study subjects are 456 male veterans over 55-years old with deployed experiences selected from a larger survey data by Veterans’ Affairs Canada (VAC). This study found that overall scale reliability was excellent with alpha of .93 and subscale alphas ranging from .81 to .90. Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) confirmed the best fit of four first-order factor models. Criterion validity was confirmed through significant associations of the PCL-M scores with well-established measures of depression, substance abuse, and general health indices. The PCL-M is recommended as a reliable and valid tool for the clinical and empirical assessment of screening PTSD symptomatology, specifically related to older veterans military experiences.