Validation of a trauma questionnaire in veteran women

Abstract

The Trauma Questionnaire (TQ) assesses a woman's history of childhood and adult sexual trauma, sexual harassment, and domestic violence. The TQ is used widely at Veterans Affairs Medical Centers, but its validity has not been thoroughly examined. In a prospective study of 127 women, we found the TQ to have good to excellent agreement with a semistructured clinician interview and good sensitivity and specificity. The TQ can be used as a valid alternative to the clinician interview in the initial elicitation of trauma history among women veterans in the primary care setting.

Military Sexual Trauma and Suicide Mortality

“…These items have been validated against psychometrically sound assessment instruments, yielding a sensitivity of 0.92 and specificity of 0.89 for item "a," and a sensitivity of 0.89 and specificity of 0.90 for item "b." 12,23 This performance is comparable to other widely used VA mental health screens for depression 24 and PTSD. 25 An affirmative response to either item is entered as a positive screen; negative responses to both items are entered as negative screens; Veterans who decline to respond are screened again within 1 year, with an interim response coded as declined.…”

Intimate Partner Violence and Current Mental Health Needs Among Female Veterans

“…Two items from the Trauma Questionnaire 18 assessed MST: "While you were in the military, did you receive uninvited and unwanted sexual attention, such as touching or cornering, pressure for sexual favors, or verbal remarks?" and "While you were in the military, did someone ever use force or the threat of force to have sexual contact with you?"…”

Associations Between Psychological, Physical, and Sexual Intimate Partner Violence and Health Outcomes Among Women Veteran VA Patients

“…Women veterans experience high rates of lifetime IPV and are more than 1.5 times more likely than their non-veteran peers to experience IPV in their lifetimes (Dichter et al, 2011). Nearly one in two women veterans receiving VA care report lifetime IPV victimization (Caralis & Musialowski, 1997;McIntyre et al, 1999;Murdoch & Nichol, 1995). In a study of women veterans receiving care at a VA Medical Center, those with documented IPV experience had higher rates of mood disorders, alcohol/drug dependence, sleep problems, and PTSD, as well as other health conditions compared to women without documented IPV exposure.…”