Premium
Adaptation and psychometric properties of the German version of the dissociative experience scale
Author(s) -
Spitzer Carsten,
Freyberger Harald J.,
Stieglitz RolfDieter,
Carlson Eve B.,
Kuhn Gabriela,
Magdeburg Norbert,
Kessler Christof
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
journal of traumatic stress
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.259
H-Index - 134
eISSN - 1573-6598
pISSN - 0894-9867
DOI - 10.1023/a:1024457819547
Subject(s) - german , psychometrics , psychology , adaptation (eye) , scale (ratio) , dissociative , test validity , clinical psychology , cognitive psychology , geography , cartography , archaeology , neuroscience
We introduce the ‘Fragebogen zu Dissoziativen Symptomen’ (FDS), a German adaptation of the Dissociative Experience Scale (DES) which was developed to screen for dissociation within an ICD‐10 framework. In addition to the original 28 DES items, the FDS contains 16 items covering dissociative phenomena included in the ICD‐10, particularly pseudoneurological conversion symptoms. The psychometric properties of the FDS were studied in 927 clinical and nonclinical subjects from different diagnostic groups and compared to results of American studies. The scale had good test‐retest reliability of .88, high internal consistency (split‐half = .90, Cronbach's alpha = .94) and good construct validity. These results indicate that the FDS may be a valuable screen for dissociative psychopathology in German‐speaking countries.