The self-administered version of the Structured Interview for Disorders of Extreme Stress (SIDES-SR) in a clinical and non-clinical Portuguese sample

Abstract

Disorders of Extreme Stress Not Otherwise Specified (DESNOS) refers to a constellation of symptoms deriving from chronic interpersonal trauma, inflicted by caregivers or in the context of intimate relationships. The Structured Interview for Disorders of Extreme Stress—Self-Report (SIDES-SR) was designed for the assessment of DESNOS. This study aimed to validate the Portuguese version of the SIDES-SR in the community (N = 814; Mage = 40.09, SD = 14.25, 39.2% male, 60.8% female) and clinical (N = 310; Mage = 42.49, SD = 12.47, 57.7% male, 42.3% female) samples. It had three objectives: (1) to validate the SIDES-SR rationally derived domains in the community sample; (2) to characterise the reliability of the SIDES-SR scales in both samples; and (3) to explore mean differences in the SIDES-SR results in both samples. The Portuguese SIDES-SR confirmed the six clinical domains of DESNOS and demonstrated acceptable internal consistency levels, similar to those obtained in prior research. Highly significant differences and large and very large effect sizes between the community and clinical samples were found for all the SIDES-SR domains. DESNOS symptomatology was shown to be more frequent in females and the clinical sample reported a higher frequency of traumatic events in life, specifically interpersonal trauma. The results support the relevance of the SIDES-SR for clinical practice in the assessment of the DESNOS diagnosis.