Yonsei Med J.  2011 Jul;52(4):673-679. 10.3349/ymj.2011.52.4.673.

A Validation Study of the Korean Version of SPAN

• Seo HJ
• Chung S
• Lim HK
• Chee IS
• Lee KU
• Paik KC
• Kim D
• Lee SY
• Ryu SH
• Kim JB
• Kim TS
• Kim W
• Chae JH
• Disaster Psychiatry Committee in Korean Academy of Anxiety Disorders

• KMID: 1728002
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.3349/ymj.2011.52.4.673

Abstract

PURPOSE
The SPAN, which is acronym standing for its four components: Startle, Physiological arousal, Anger, and Numbness, is a short post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) screening scale. This study sought to develop and validate a Korean version of the SPAN (SPAN-K).
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Ninety-three PTSD patients (PTSD group), 73 patients with non-psychotic psychiatric disorders (psychiatric control group), and 88 healthy participants (normal control group) were recruited for this study. Participants completed a variety of psychiatric assessments including the SPAN-K, the Davidson Trauma Scale (DTS), the Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale (CAPS), and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI).
RESULTS
Cronbach's alpha and test-retest reliability values for the SPAN-K were both 0.80. Mean SPAN-K scores were 10.06 for the PTSD group, 4.94 for the psychiatric control group, and 1.42 for the normal control group. With respect to concurrent validity, correlation coefficients were 0.87 for SPAN-K vs. CAPS total scores (p<0.001) and 0.86 for SPAN-K vs. DTS scores (p<0.001). Additionally, correlation coefficients were 0.31 and 0.42 for SPAN-K vs. STAI-S and STAI-T, respectively. Receiver operating characteristic analysis of SPAN-K showed good diagnostic accuracy with an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.87. The SPAN-K showed the highest efficiency at a cutoff score of 7, with a sensitivity of 0.83, a specificity of 0.81, positive predictive value (PPV) of 0.88, and negative predictive value (NPV) of 0.73.
CONCLUSION
These results suggest that the SPAN-K had good psychometric properties and may be a useful instrument for rapid screening of PTSD patients.

Keyword

PTSD; reliability; screening; SPAN; validity

MeSH Terms

Humans
*Psychological Techniques
Republic of Korea
Sensitivity and Specificity
Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic/*diagnosis/psychology

Figure

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  Fig. 1 The mean SPAN-K scores of the PTSD group, psychiatric control group and normal control group.

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  Fig. 2 The ROC curve of the SPAN-K for the prediction of diagnosis of PTSD.

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