Patients’ and interviewers’ acceptance of the German version of the CAPS-5

Background:Structured diagnostic interviews are essential in clinical psychological diagnostics due to their robust psychometric properties. Despite their significance, patient and interviewer acceptance assessment during structured diagnostic interviews is infrequent. Within the domain of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), the Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale for DSM-5 (CAPS-5) is the recommended structured diagnostic interview. Understanding the acceptance levels of CAPS-5 among patients and interviewers is essential. This study aimed to investigate the extent to which the CAPS-5 is accepted by military and civilian patients (measured with the Patient Acceptance Questionnaire [PAQ]) and interviewers (measured with the Interviewer Acceptance Questionnaire [IAQ]), and to determine which psychopathology-related variables are significantly correlated with acceptance.Methods:A total of 152 patients and 16 interviewers participated in the study. Descriptive data from the questionnaires were computed. Next, principal component analyses were conducted to investigate the factorial structure of both questionnaires. Internal consistencies were investigated for the identified factors. Subsequently, the associations between the PAQ and IAQ and measures of psychopathology, socially desirable responding, and the interview duration were analyzed using correlation analysis and a stepwise multiple regression analysis. Finally, we investigated possible differences in the responses on the PAQ and the IAQ between military and civilian participants exploratorily.Results:Findings indicate that the German version of the CAPS-5 was highly accepted by patients, irrespective of their symptom severity, the type of index trauma, their demographic background (civilian or military), or the interview duration. Furthermore, interviewer acceptance was also notably high. Conclusion: In summary, the CAPS-5 is rated positively by both patients and interviewers. The results of this study provide further evidence that the CAPS-5 is well-suited as a standard instrument for diagnosing PTSD, and that conducting the interview is unlikely to be experienced as stressful or burdensome by both interviewers and patients.Trial Registration: Trial ID: DRKS00015325 (https://www.drks.de)