PTSD: National Center for PTSD
Inventory of Psychosocial Functioning (IPF)
Inventory of Psychosocial Functioning (IPF)
Description
The IPF is an 80-item self-report instrument measuring PTSD-related functional impairment in the past 30 days. There are seven functional domains evaluated: romantic relationships, family relationships, work, friendships and socializing, parenting, education, and self-care. The IPF was developed to have high content validity, to not confound PTSD symptoms and related impairment, and to not require respondent attributions regarding the cause of impairment.
An abridged 7-item Brief Inventory of Psychosocial Functioning (B-IPF) is also available. This shorter instrument assesses PTSD-related functional impairment in the prior 30 days across the same domains that are assessed by the 80-item version of the IPF; each item on the B-IPF corresponds to one IPF functional domain.
Administration and Scoring
Both the IPF and the B-IPF are self-report measures suitable for clinical and research purposes.p>
For the IPF, respondents are asked a dichotomous yes/no question about the applicability of each domain in the past 30 days. If a functional domain is relevant, the respondent answers each question in that domain on a Likert-type scale ranging from 0="Never" to 6="Always".
Each domain scale is scored independently by summing all completed items (correcting for reverse coded items), dividing the total by the maximum possible domain scale score for the items included, and multiplying by 100. Each domain scale yields a score ranging from 0-100, with higher scores indicating greater impairment. As respondents only complete the domain scales that apply to them, to calculate the overall IPF score, the sum of all the completed IPF scale scores is divided by the number of scales completed.
As with the IPF, respondents only answer questions on the B-IPF pertaining to domains that have been relevant in the past 30 days. The B-IPF total score is calculated by summing the scale items completed by the respondent, dividing by the maximum possible score based upon the number of applicable items and multiplying by 100. B-IPF total scores represent an index of overall functional impairment, with higher scores indicating greater functional impairment.
Information about cutoff score ranges is included in the referenced articles below.
Sample Item
- Item: [If the respondent has been in contact with friends in the past 30 days] I was willing to meet new people.
- Response: 7-point Likert-type scale (0 = "Never"; 1-5 = "Sometimes"; 6 = "Always")
References
Bovin, M. J., Black, S. K., Rodriguez, P., Lunney, C. A., Kleiman, S. E., Weathers, F. W., ...& Marx, B. P. (2018). Development and validation of a measure of PTSD-related psychosocial functional impairment: The Inventory of Psychosocial Functioning. Psychological Services, 15, 216-229. doi:10.1037/ser0000220
Kleiman, S. E., Bovin, M. J., Black, S. K., Rodriguez, P., Brown, L. G., Brown, M. E., ...& Marx, B. P. (2018). Psychometric properties of a brief measure of posttraumatic stress disorder-related impairment: The Brief Inventory of Psychosocial Functioning. Psychological Services. doi:10.1037/ser0000306
To Obtain Scale
This measure was developed by staff at VA's National Center for PTSD.
Download the Inventory of Psychosocial Functioning full (IPF) or brief (B-IPF) versions:
Are you using this measure with U.S. Veterans or Service members?
Our PTSD Consultation Program can answer administration or scoring questions: PTSDconsult@va.gov or 866-948-7880.
Measure availability: We provide information on a variety of measures assessing trauma and PTSD. These measures are intended for use by qualified mental health professionals and researchers. Measures authored by National Center staff are available as direct downloads or by request. Measures developed outside of the National Center can be requested via contact information available on the information page for the specific measure.
