The Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale for DSM-5 (CAPS-5): Development and Initial Psychometric Evaluation in Military Veterans

The Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale (CAPS) is an extensively validated and widely used structured diagnostic interview for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The CAPS was recently revised to correspond with PTSD criteria in the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5; American Psychiatric Association, 2013). This article describes the development of the CAPS for DSM-5 (CAPS-5) and presents the results of an initial psychometric evaluation of CAPS-5 scores in 2 samples of military veterans (Ns = 165 and 207). CAPS-5 diagnosis demonstrated strong interrater reliability (K=.78 to 1.00, depending on the scoring rule) and test-retest reliability (K=.83), as well as strong correspondence with a diagnosis based on the CAPS for DSM-IV (CAPS-IV; K=.84 when optimally calibrated). CAPS-5 total severity score demonstrated high internal consistency (alpha=.88) and interrater reliability (ICC=.91) and good test-retest reliability (ICC=.78). It also demonstrated good convergent validity with total severity score on the CAPS-IV (r=.83) and PTSD Checklist for DSM-5 (r=.66) and good discriminant validity with measures of anxiety, depression, somatization, functional impairment, psychopathy, and alcohol abuse (rs=.02 to.54). Overall, these results indicate that the CAPS-5 is a psychometrically sound measure of DSM-5 PTSD diagnosis and symptom severity. Importantly, the CAPS-5 strongly corresponds with the CAPS-IV, which suggests that backward compatibility with the CAPS-IV was maintained and that the CAPS-5 provides continuity in evidencebased assessment of PTSD in the transition from DSM-IV to DSM-5 criteria. Public Significance Statement This study evaluated the DSM-5 version of the Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale (CAPS-5), a widely used structured interview for posttraumatic stress disorder, in 2 samples of military veterans. Results indicated that the CAPS-5 is psychometrically sound and corresponds closely with the previous DSM-IV version of the CAPS.