Psychometric Evaluation of the Japanese Version of the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist in Community Dwellers Following the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant Incident

We investigated the psychometric properties of the Japanese versionof the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist–Stressor Specific Version (PCL-S) usingbaseline data from the Fukushima Health Management Survey. A total of 26,332 men and33,516 women aged 16 and above participated in this study. Participants lived in theFukushima evacuation zone in Japan and experienced the Great East Japan Earthquake andnuclear power plant (NPP) incident. The PCL-S was used to assess participants’posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms. In addition, we described participantsand tested the validity of the PCL-S by administering the Kessler Six-item ScreeningScale for Psychological Distress (K6) and assessing education; employment; self-ratedhealth; sleep satisfaction; experiencing the earthquake, tsunami, and NPP incident; andbereavement as a result of the disaster. PCL-S scores exhibited a positively skewed,slightly leptokurtic distribution. Confirmatory factor analysis revealed that thefive-factor model was a better fit than were the three- or four-factor models. The PCL-Sand its subscales had high Cronbach’s alpha coefficients. The PCL-S scores hadweak-to-moderate correlations with history of mental illness, bereavement, experiencingthe tsunami, experiencing the NPP incident, self-rated health, and sleep satisfaction,as well as a strong correlation with psychological distress. There were significantgender and age differences in PCL-S scores. Overall, this study confirmed thepsychometric properties of the PCL-S, including the score distribution, factorstructure, reliability, validity, and gender and age differences. Thus, the Japaneseversion of the PCL-S would be a useful instrument for assessing the PTSD symptoms ofcommunity dwellers who have experienced traumatic events