Page 85 - Post-traumatic stress disorder in adults with mild intellectual disability: Screening, assessment, and brief intensive EMDR therapy

Brief intensive EMDR therapy for PTSD
person in indicating impairment in daily life on a scale from 0 (totally not)
to 8 (very much). If the interference score is four or higher (criterion G), the
participant is asked when the symptoms started to confirm if they have
been present for over a month (criterion F). Finally, the interviewer checks if
the symptoms are not due to medication, drug use, medical conditions, or
somatic disorders (criterion H). There are several versions of the DITS-ID.
This study used the adult version and follow-up measurements, which takes
approximately 15 min. First, the participant is asked whether the participant
has experienced a traumatic or stressful event since the last DITS-ID
administration, followed by symptom questions and the thermometer
card. The DITS-ID adult version has good psychometric properties, with
high internal consistency, good-to-excellent interrater reliability, and good
construct validity (Mevissen et al., 2020; Versluis et al., 2024). All DITS-ID
interviews were conducted by trained master’s students and an independent
psychologist.
Participants’ safety
The safety of the participants was defined as the absence of adverse events,
including increased suicidal ideation or being placed in a crisis intervention
facility. All recorded adverse events were extracted from the participants’
electronic client files.
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Secondary outcome measures
Adaptive behaviour
Goal Attainment Scaling (GAS) was used to monitor adaptive behaviour
on a 6-point scale (−3 = regression, – 2 = initial situation, – 1 = less than
the target, 0 = target, + 1 = more than the target, + 2 = much more than
the target). Adaptive behaviour was defined in agreement with the
participant, professional caregiver, and their psychologist and focused on
(for the professional caregiver) observable behaviours that the participant
was expected to be capable of without PTSD. Adaptive behaviour was
determined for each participant prior to EMDR therapy, and professional
caregivers scored the GAS scale daily (twice a day, in the morning and
afternoon).
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