Psychometric revalidation of the SPRINT-E scale for assessing post-traumatic stress in Latin American populations during the COVID-19 pandemic.

INTRODUCTION

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has been one of the major psychological consequences observed during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, it is essential to have valid and reliable instruments for its assessment.

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the internal structure and reliability of a brief SPRINT-E-based measure for screening post-traumatic stress symptoms in Latin American populations during the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic.

METHODS

This was an instrumental study using the Short Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Rating Interview (SPRINT-E) scale, administered to more than 6,000 participants across 12 Latin American countries. Descriptive statistics and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) were conducted to evaluate the factorial structure and internal consistency of the instrument.

RESULTS

Item 4 showed the highest mean score (M = 0.85) and the greatest dispersion (SD = 0.78). The CFA supported the original unidimensional 12-item model, which demonstrated satisfactory goodness-of-fit indices. The PTSD-COVID-19 scale showed a Cronbach's α of 0.92 (95% CI: 0.91-0.92), indicating excellent internal consistency.

CONCLUSION

The PTSD-COVID-19 scale showed acceptable evidence of internal structure and excellent internal consistency as a brief instrument for screening post-traumatic stress symptoms in Latin American adults during the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic.