Screening for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in Refugees: Comparison of the Diagnostic Efficiency of Two Self‐Rating Measures of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

There is a high prevalence of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in the refugee population. In order to identify affected individuals and offer targeted help, there is an urgent need for easily understandable, reliable, valid, and efficient screening measures. The aim of the present study was to compare the diagnostic efficiency of the Process of Recognition and Orientation of Torture Victims in European Countries to Facilitate Care and Treatment (PROTECT) questionnaire (PQ) to that of the eight‐item short‐form Posttraumatic Diagnostic Scale (PDS‐8) and the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ‐9). Using structured clinical interviews, the prevalence rates of PTSD and major depression episode (MDE) were assessed in a refugee sample (N = 118), and receiver operating characteristic analyses were determined and compared. Of participants in the sample, 29.7%, 95% CI 22.0%, 38.5%], were diagnosed with PTSD and 33.1%, 95% CI 24.4%, 41.9%], were diagnosed with MDE. The area under the curve (AUC) for all measures was moderate, AUCs = 0.79–0.86; hence, measures did not differ in terms of their discriminatory abilities. Using the favored cutoff points, sensitivity and specificity were 80–97% and 60–70%, respectively. In terms of their discriminatory abilities, none of the investigated measures can be favored more than the others. Thus, for detection of these two disorders, the shorter PQ could be more efficient. Because the high co‐occurrence of PTSD and MDE might limit the explanatory power of results in the present study, the findings should be cross‐validated in the future.