This Article Abstract Free Full Text (Free PDF) Free Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Hiskey, S. Articles by Joseph, S. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

The Conceptualisation and Development of a Bi-Directional Measure of Changes in Being Following Adversity

Sub-Department of Clinical Health Psychology, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, sydhiskey{at}hotmail.com

Nicholas A. Troop

Department of Health Psychology, London Metropolitan University, UK

Stephen Joseph

Department of Clinical Psychology, Universities of Coventry and Warwick, UK

The conceptualisation and initial psychometric development of a measure of bi-directional phenomenological change following severely stressful and traumatic life events is detailed. Measure items were derived from a range of sources, most notably a series of focus group interviews (Study One). A grounded theory analysis of this data suggested that the collective discourse could be classified in terms of the primary mode of experiencing change. An exploratory factor analysis of items derived from Study One, based on data drawn from a large-scale Internet survey (Study Two), supported this view and produced factors indicative of bi-directional changes in ‘physiological’, ‘social’, ‘personal’ and ‘existential’ ways of being. The resulting 20-item measure demonstrated acceptable psychometric properties and awaits further development.

Key Words: Adversity • phenomenology • questionnaire development • semantic differential • bi-directional

References

• American Psychiatric Association (1987). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (3rd edition, revised). Washington, DC: APA.
• American Psychiatric Association (1994). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (4th edition). Washington, DC: APA.
• Arata, C., Saunders, B., & Kilpatrick, D. (1991). Concurrent validity of a crime-related post-traumatic stress disorder scale for women with the Symptom Checklist-90- Revised. Violence and Victims, 6, 191-199.[Medline] [Order article via Infotrieve]
• Birnbaum, M. (2000). Psychological Experiments on the Internet. London: Academic Press.
• Brett, E. (1996). The classification of posttraumatic stress disorder. In B. van der Kolk, A. McFarlane & L. Weisaeth (Eds) Traumatic Stress: The effects of overwhelming experience on mind, body and society (pp.117-128). New York: Guilford Press.
• Briere, J. (1995). Trauma Symptom Inventory professional manual. Odessa, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources.
• Buchanan, T., & Smith, J. L. (1999). Using the Internet for psychological research: Personality testing on the World Wide Web. British Journal of Psychology, 90, 125-144.
• Calhoun, L. G., & Tedeschi. R. G. (1999). Facilitating posttraumatic growth: A clinician’s guide. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum.
• Cattell, R. B. (1966). The scree test for the number of factors. Multivariate Behavioral Research, 1, 245-276.[CrossRef]
• Comrey, A. L., & Lee, H. B. (1992). A first course in factor analysis. (2nd Ed.) Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
• Foa, E. B. (1995). Posttraumatic Diagnostic Scale (PDS). Microtest Q Assessment System. National Computer Systems Inc.
• Foa, E. B., Riggs, D. S., Dancu, C. V., & Rothbaum, B. O. (1993). Reliability and validity of a brief instrument for assessing post-traumatic stress disorder. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 6, 459-473.[CrossRef]
• Hiskey, S. (2003). Intrusive experiences and psychological adjustment following trauma. Unpublished doctoral thesis, University of Essex: U.K.
• Hiskey, S., & Troop, N. A. (2002). Online longitudinal survey research: viability and participation. Social science computer review, 20, 250-259.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
• Horowitz, M. J., Wilner, N., & Alvarez, W. (1979). Impact of Event Scale: A measure of subjective stress. Psychosomatic Medicine, 41, 209-218.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
• Joseph, S., Williams, R., & Yule, W. (1997). Understanding post traumatic stress: A psychosocial perspective on PTSD and treatment. London: Wiley.
• Joseph, S., Williams, R., & Yule, W. (1993). Changes in outlook following disaster: The preliminary development of a measure to assess positive and negative responses. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 6, 271-279.[CrossRef]
• Krantz, J. H., & Dalal, R. (2000). Validity of Web-based psychological research. In M. Birnbaum (Ed), Psychological experiments on the Internet. London: Academic Press.
• Laufer, R. S., Brett, E., & Gallops, M. S. (1985). Dimensions of post-traumatic stress disorder among Vietnam veterans. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disorder, 173, 538-545.
• Lazersfeld, P. F., & Wagner, T., Jr. (1958). Academic mind. New York: Free Press.
• Linley, A. P., & Joseph, S. (2004). Positive change following trauma and adversity: A review. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 17(1), 11-21.[CrossRef][Medline] [Order article via Infotrieve]
• Maes, M., Delmeire, L., Schotte, C., Janca, A., Creten, T., Mylle, J., Struyf, A., Pison, G., & Rousseeuw, P. J. (1998). The two-factorial symptom structure of post-traumatic stress disorder: depression-avoidance and arousal-anxiety. Psychiatry Research, 81, 195-210.[CrossRef][Medline] [Order article via Infotrieve]
• McCann, I. L., & Pearlman, L. A. (1990). Psychological trauma and the adult survivor: Theory, therapy, and transformation. New York: Brunner Mazel.
• McCann, L. I., Sakheim, D. K., & Abrahamson, D. J. (1988). Trauma and victimisation: A model of psychological adaptation. The Counseling Psychologist, 16, 531-594.[Abstract]
• McGreal, R., & Joseph, S. (1993). The depression-happiness scale. Psychological Reports, 73, 1279-1282.[Medline] [Order article via Infotrieve]
• McMillen, J. C., & Fisher, R. H. (1998). The Perceived Benefit Scales: Measuring perceived positive life changes after negative events. Social Work Research, 22, 173-187.
• Nunnally, J. C. (1978). Psychometric theory. New York: McGraw-Hill.
• Palmer, M. (1991). The elements of Taoism. Dorset: Great Britain. Element Books Limited.
• Pennell, G. E. (1996). Integrating complexity into the study of life events: Comment on Suedfeld and Bluck (1993), Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 71, 777-780.[CrossRef]
• Powell, R. A., & Single, H. M. (1996). Focus groups. International Journal of Quality in Health Care, 8, 499-504.[CrossRef]
• Reips, U.-D. (2000). The Web experiment method: Advantages, disadvantages, and solutions. In M. Birnbaum (Ed), Psychological experiments on the Internet. London: Academic Press.
• Silver, S. M., & Iacono, C. U. (1984). Factor-analytic support for DSM-III’s post-traumatic stress disorder for Vietnam veterans. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 40, 5-14.[Medline] [Order article via Infotrieve]
• Stewart, D. W., & Shamdasani, P. N. (1990). Focus groups: theory and practice. Newbury Park, California: Sage.
• Strauss, A., & Corbin, J. (1990). Basics of qualitative research (1st ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
• Strauss, A., & Corbin, J. (1998). Basics of qualitative research (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
• Tedeschi, R. G., & Calhoun, L. G. (1996). The posttraumatic growth inventory: Measuring the positive legacy of trauma. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 9, 455-471.[CrossRef][Medline] [Order article via Infotrieve]
• van der Kolk, B. A. (1996). The complexity of adaptation to trauma: Self-regulation, stimulus discrimination, and characterological development. In van der Kolk, B. A., McFarlane, A., & Weisaeth, L. (Eds) Traumatic stress: The effects of overwhelming experience on mind, body and society (pp.182-213). New York: Guilford Press.
• Watson, C., Kucala, T., Juba, M., Manifold, V., & Anderson, P. (1991). A factor analysis of the DSM-III post-traumatic stress disorder criteria. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 47, 205-214.[Medline] [Order article via Infotrieve]

Traumatology, Vol. 12, No. 1, 25-43 (2006)
DOI: 10.1177/153476560601200103


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?

This Article Abstract Free Full Text (Free PDF) Free Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Hiskey, S. Articles by Joseph, S. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?