During this module, you practiced scoring the CAPS-5.

You should now be able to score a CAPS-5 interview, which includes:

• Determining whether Criterion A is met during a CAPS-5 interview.
• Rating the intensity, frequency, severity, and (when relevant) the trauma relatedness of a patient's symptoms during a CAPS-5 interview.
• Completing the scoring of a CAPS-5 interview.

Some key points you should remember include:

• Standard administration and scoring of the CAPS-5 are essential for producing reliable and valid scores and diagnostic decisions.
• The CAPS-5 should be administered only by qualified interviewers who have formal training in structured clinical interviewing and differential diagnosis, a thorough understanding of the conceptual basis of PTSD and its various symptoms, and detailed knowledge of the features and conventions of the CAPS-5 itself.
• You need to establish that a symptom not only meets the DSM-5 criterion phenomenologically, but is also functionally related to the index traumatic event.
• The scoring rule has three parts:
  1. if frequency and intensity match each other, that is also your severity rating;
  2. if frequency and intensity do not match, the lower one will match your severity score;
  3. the only exception to part #2 is if intensity is 2 or more steps above frequency, you can give a severity score that is one step above frequency. However, this only works for this situation and only for intensity—never round up for frequency.
• A symptom is considered present only if the corresponding item severity score is rated 2=Moderate/threshold or higher.
• Use information gathered about frequency and intensity to make a severity rating according to the three-prong scoring rule.