Posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms in cancer: psychometric analysis of the Spanish Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist‐Civilian version

OBJECTIVE: The PTSD Checklist-Civilian version (PCL-C) was used as a screening tool to assess the presence of PTSD symptoms. The aim of this study was to explore the factorial structure of the Spanish version of the PCL-C and calculate the correlation of PTSD symptoms with distress and health-related quality of life. METHOD: The sample included 494 cancer outpatients. In order to validate the PCL-C, a principal component analysis was applied. The association between variable was measured by Pearson correlation. RESULTS: Findings evidenced three symptoms clusters on the PCL-C version, defined as Hyperarousal/Re-experiencing, Numbing and Avoidance. About 10% of the total sample met clinical PTSD symptoms. In addition, PTSD symptoms were related negatively to health-related quality of life and positively related with distress. CONCLUSION: The conceptualization of PTSD symptoms for cancer patients is supported by the specific symptom clusters identified on PCL-C.