Short Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Rating Interview (SPRINT)

Abstract

The Short Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Rating Interview (SPRINT) is an efficient and structured eight-item self-report measure designed for the global assessment of PTSD symptomatology in adults. Developed by Connor and Davidson (2001), the SPRINT assesses the primary symptom clusters—including intrusion, avoidance, numbing, and arousal—along with related aspects such as somatic distress, stress vulnerability, and functional impairment. Its primary utility lies in clinical settings requiring rapid screening and monitoring of treatment response due to its brief completion time (5-10 minutes).

Keywords

PTSD, SPRINT, brief assessment, self-report scale, trauma screening, Davidson Trauma Scale, CAPS, clinical psychopharmacology.

Authors

Connor, K. M., Davidson, J. R. T.

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Purpose

The core purpose of the SPRINT is to provide a brief, yet comprehensive, global assessment tool for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). It was specifically designed to address the clinical need for a measure that is less time-consuming than traditional structured interviews, such as the Clinician Administered PTSD Scale (CAPS), while maintaining high diagnostic specificity and sensitivity.

Beyond initial screening, the SPRINT includes two supplementary items designed to measure global improvement and symptom change over time. This makes the instrument particularly effective for tracking patient progress and assessing the effectiveness of psychological or pharmacological treatment interventions in clinical trials or ongoing care settings.

Construct

The SPRINT measures the severity of core PTSD symptoms, mirroring the traditional diagnostic clusters derived from criteria like the DSM-IV. The eight primary items correspond to specific symptom domains: intrusion, avoidance, emotional numbing, and hyperarousal.

Furthermore, the scale extends beyond the primary diagnostic symptoms to capture broader clinical distress and functional impact. It assesses related aspects critical to the patient’s overall well-being, including somatic distress, general stress vulnerability, and overall impairment in function, providing a holistic view of the disorder’s impact.

Validity

The SPRINT has demonstrated robust validity across multiple dimensions. Evidence of good convergent validity was established through significant correlation with the Davidson Trauma Scale (DTS), a comparable measure of PTSD symptoms, showing a correlation coefficient of r = .73. This strong correlation confirms that the SPRINT accurately measures the intended construct when compared to established instruments.

In terms of discriminant evidence, the SPRINT showed good divergent validity, exhibiting a negligible correlation (r = .10) with the Sheehan Social Support Scale, confirming that it measures PTSD pathology distinct from unrelated constructs like social support. Crucially, the SPRINT has also been validated against the gold standard diagnostic tool, the Clinician Administered PTSD Scale (CAPS) (Vaishnavi, Connor & Davidson, 2006), reinforcing its clinical utility. A score between 14 and 17 has been associated with a high diagnostic accuracy of 96%.

Reliability

The reliability of the SPRINT is consistently reported as strong. The instrument exhibits high levels of internal consistency, with a Cronbach’s alpha (α) coefficient of .88, indicating excellent homogeneity among the eight primary items. This suggests that the items reliably measure the same underlying construct of global PTSD severity.

Furthermore, the SPRINT demonstrates good temporal stability, evidenced by a test-retest reliability coefficient (Intraclass Correlation Coefficient, ICC) of .78. This finding confirms that the measure produces consistent results when administered to the same individuals over a short period, making it suitable for both screening and monitoring purposes.

Factor Analysis

The SPRINT is structured as a brief global assessment tool, with one item corresponding to each of the eight primary symptom domains typically associated with PTSD (intrusion, avoidance, numbing, arousal, somatic distress, stress vulnerability, and functional impairment). While the scale targets distinct clinical dimensions, the standard application involves summing all item scores to achieve a single, global severity score (maximum score of 32).

Although designed to capture multi-dimensional aspects of trauma response, research and clinical implementation generally prioritize the total score for rapid screening and assessment of treatment sensitivity. The global score’s strong psychometric properties, particularly its high internal consistency, support its use as a reliable unidimensional proxy for overall PTSD severity.

Instrument

Test Type: Self-report screening interview

Format: Eight core items plus two additional follow-up items, rated on a five-point Likert scale (0 = not at all, 4 = very much).

Language Available: English (Primary validation language)

Population Group: Clinical and General Population

Age Group: Adults (18+ years)

Population Details: Developed for use with adult populations requiring a rapid and structured assessment of trauma-related symptoms.

Test Methodology: The assessment is brief, typically requiring only 5 to 10 minutes to complete. Scores are summed to yield a total severity score (range 0–32). A cutoff score of 14 is suggested to warrant further, more detailed assessment using structured diagnostic interviews for PTSD.

Keywords

Screening instrument, clinical assessment, treatment monitoring, psychometrics, Likert scale, trauma symptoms, functional impairment, internal consistency, convergent validity.

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Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: Not specified in source materials.

Affiliation Email addresses: Not specified in source materials.

Correspondence Address: Not specified in source materials.

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

The SPRINT is highly accessible, being freely available for use by professionals. The original scale was developed and published in 2001 by Connor and Davidson. Further information and the scale itself are maintained and provided by authoritative sources, such as the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).

The SPRINT and further information are freely available at the National Center for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder website: https://www.ptsd.va.gov/professional/assessment/screens/sprint.asp.

Reference’s

1. Connor, K. M., & Davidson, J. R. T. (2001). SPRINT: A brief global assessment of post-traumatic stress disorder. International Clinical Psychopharmacology, 16(5), 279-284.
2. National Center for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. (2016). SPRINT. Retrieved from https://www.ptsd.va.gov/professional/assessment/screens/sprint.asp
3. Vaishnavi, S., Payne, V., Connor, K., & Davidson, J. R. T. (2006). A comparison of the SPRINT and CAPS assessment scales for posttraumatic stress disorder. Depression and Anxiety, 0, 1-4. doi: 10.1002/da.20202

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Items of the Short Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Rating Interview (SPRINT)

IMPORTANT: The following scale items must be preserved in their original language and must not be changed in any way.

Sample items include:

How much have you been bothered by unwanted memories, nightmares, or reminders of the event?

How much would you get upset when stressful events or setbacks happen to you?