LEC-5 (Life Events Checklist for DSM-5) Standard Version

Description

According to the National Center for PTSD, the Life Events Checklist for DSM-5 (LEC-5) is a self-report measure designed to screen for potentially traumatic events in a respondent's lifetime. The LEC-5 assesses exposure to 16 events known to potentially result in PTSD or distress and includes one additional item assessing any other extraordinarily stressful event not captured in the first 16 items.

The LEC was originally developed concurrently with the Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale for DSM-IV (CAPS) to be administered before the CAPS. The LEC demonstrated adequate psychometric properties as a stand-alone assessment of traumatic exposure, particularly when evaluating consistency of events that happened to a respondent.

Psychometrics are not currently available for the LEC-5. Given the minimal revisions from the original version of the LEC, few psychometric differences are expected.

Administration

The LEC-5 is often used in combination with other measures (e.g., CAPS-5, PCL-5, PC-PTSD-5) for the purpose of establishing exposure to a PTSD Criterion A traumatic event.

Three formats of the LEC-5 are available:

• Standard self-report: to establish if an event occurred

• Extended self-report: to establish worst event if more than one event occurred

• Interview: to establish if Criterion A is met

Scoring

The LEC-5 is intended to gather information about the potentially traumatic events a person has experienced. There is no formal scoring protocol or interpretation per se, other than identifying whether a person has experienced one or more of the events listed. Respondents indicate varying levels of exposure to each type of potentially traumatic event included on a 6-point nominal scale, and respondents may endorse multiple levels of exposure to the same trauma type. The LEC-5 does not yield a total score or composite score.

Sample Item

• Item: Natural disaster (for example, flood, hurricane, tornado, earthquake)

• Response: Happened to me; Witnessed it; Learned about it; Part of my job; Not sure; Doesn't apply

Results

1. Next Steps

   1. The LEC-5 is a screening measure of potentially traumatic event exposure and does not produce a total score. Review each event the respondent endorsed, paying particular attention to events marked "Happened to me" or "Witnessed it", and follow up on the worst or most distressing event as clinically indicated.

   2. Not a PTSD diagnosis: This checklist identifies exposure to potentially traumatic events. It does not determine whether an event meets DSM-5 Criterion A or whether PTSD is present.

   3. If a traumatic event is reported, other measures such as the Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5) or the Primary Care PTSD Screen for DSM-5 (PC-PTSD-5) can confirm whether other diagnostic criteria are present.

2. # of Events "Happened to Me" - Counts describe exposure only; they are not a severity score.

3. # of Events "Witnessed it"

4. # of Events "Learned about it"

5. # of Events "Part of my job"

6. # of Events "Not sure"

7. Each question and answer combo are also shown grouped by question for review, except any question marked "Doesn't apply".

   1. For example:

      1. Happened to me: 1. Natural disaster (for example, flood, hurricane, tornado, earthquake)

      2. Learned about it: 1. Natural disaster (for example, flood, hurricane, tornado, earthquake)

      3. Witnessed it: 3. Transportation accident (for example, car accident, boat accident, train wreck, plane crash)

      4. Part of my job: 3. Transportation accident (for example, car accident, boat accident, train wreck, plane crash)