TRANSLATION AND VALIDATION OF THE MALAY POST TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER CHECKLIST FOR CIVILIANS

There are a number of validated questionnaires available for thescreening of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), and the PTSD Checklistfor Civilians is one of them. However, none was translated into the MalayLanguage and validated for use in the Malaysian population. The aim of thisstudy is to translate and validate the Malay PTSD Checklist for Civilians(MPCL-C). Methods: The PCL-C was translated into the Malay Language andback-translated. The reliability and validity of the MPCL-C were thendetermined by administering them to those who presented at the emergencydepartment for motor vehicle accident at least one month before. Results: TheMPCL-C has good face and content validity. In terms of reliability, it is alsogood, with Chronbach’s alpha values of 0.90, 0.77, 0.75 and 0.74 for the fullscale, re-experiencing, avoidance and arousal domains respectively. Conclusions:The MPCL-C is a valid and reliable instrument to screen for PTSD in motorvehicle accident victims for the studied population