OvidSP Search Lessons
In Search Of: M
easures of PTSD Developed for
Military Veterans
W
e will use the OvidSP platform to perform a search. As part of a program to promote
easier reintegration into home communities for military personnel returning from the
Iraq and Afghanistan wars, a psychologist with the RAND Corporation is working on a grantsponsored study to assess the presence and impact of PTSD on veterans. Her assignment is to
gather as much information as possible about any measures of PTSD that have been specifically developed for military veterans.
Log into the OvidSP account and select the resource to search. We limit the search to
PsycTESTS.
American Psychological  Association • 750 First Street, NE • Washington, DC 20002-4242 • 800-374-2722 • 202-336-5650 • [email protected]
In Search Of: Measures of PTSD Developed for Military Veterans
OvidSP Search Lessons • 2
The platform opens to show the many available search fields in PsycTESTS in the All Fields
view. Note that you may wish to choose a subset of frequently used fields to save to the My
Fields tab.
American Psychological  Association • 750 First Street, NE • Washington, DC 20002-4242 • 800-374-2722 • 202-336-5650 • [email protected]
In Search Of: Measures of PTSD Developed for Military Veterans
OvidSP Search Lessons • 3
I’ll come back to use Search Fields, but let’s start constructing a search using the Search Tools
tab. That allows us to easily incorporate the Thesaurus of Psychological Index Terms into the
search. First search for PTSD:
Here is the resulting thesaurus record, which maps PTSD to Posttraumatic Stress Disorder:
Related terms Acute Stress Disorder and Combat Experience are also added to our search.
After repeating the process to create a Military Veterans search, we AND our two searches
together.
American Psychological  Association • 750 First Street, NE • Washington, DC 20002-4242 • 800-374-2722 • 202-336-5650 • [email protected]
In Search Of: Measures of PTSD Developed for Military Veterans
OvidSP Search Lessons • 4
This gives us a set of six measures to assess. However, I’d also like to limit my findings to
measures where I don’t have to buy through a publisher to use. I can restrict my findings to
“freely use in research” or “contact the corresponding author.” So let’s add another element to
the search. I will switch to the My Fields tab under Search Fields.
I’ll open the index and select those options.
I now have four remaining records.
American Psychological  Association • 750 First Street, NE • Washington, DC 20002-4242 • 800-374-2722 • 202-336-5650 • [email protected]
In Search Of: Measures of PTSD Developed for Military Veterans
OvidSP Search Lessons • 5
Looking at the first record, you’ll see that this is a Test Review for research that used the Penn
Inventory for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder with a sample of military veterans. The record
gives you information on the test purpose, construct, format, setting, reliability, and validity,
as well as on administration method and time.
American Psychological  Association • 750 First Street, NE • Washington, DC 20002-4242 • 800-374-2722 • 202-336-5650 • [email protected]
In Search Of: Measures of PTSD Developed for Military Veterans
OvidSP Search Lessons • 6
Note that if you’d like to limit your findings only to those records that have test content
available, you can limit your findings to PsycTESTS PDF on the Advanced Search Screen.
Searches shown were conducted in March 2012
American Psychological  Association • 750 First Street, NE • Washington, DC 20002-4242 • 800-374-2722 • 202-336-5650 • [email protected]