Background: This is an exploratory study on the psychometric properties and normative data of the Chinese translation of the Impact of Event Scale - Revised (CIES-R).
Methods: The original Impact of Event Scale - Revised was translated into Chinese and the comparability of content was verified through back-translation procedures. The study consisted of a sample of 116 patients from the Accident and Emergency Department.
Results: The reliability of the Chinese version was verified. The validity of the Chinese version as a measure of psychological distress was supported by the positive correlations between the various subscale scores of CIES-R (i. e., Intrusion, Avoidance, and Hyperarousal) and General Health Questionnaire-20. However, the independence of the three subscales was not supported.
Conclusions: The present result suggests that normative information for different age groups and clinical samples might be different. Further study with clinical sample and investigation of the relationship between CIES-R and other diagnostic measures of PTSD are discussed.