Psychometric Properties of the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist among the Lebanese Population Exposed to the Beirut Explosion: A Cross-Sectional Study during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

"Conflicts of Interest The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest."

"The internal consistencies of the PCL-5 scores among Kurdish and Arabic Iraqi before COVID-19 were good with α = .85 and α = .86, respectively. Meanwhile, for PCL-5's subscales (intrusion, avoidance, negative alterations in cognition and mood, and alterations in lifestyle (hyper-arousal)) were α = .76, α = .88, α = .74, and α = .71, respectively []. However, in the current study, Cronbach's α coefficients for PCL-5 and its subscales were excellent (0.94, 0.93, 0.93, and 0.92), except for hyper-arousal symptoms in which Cronbach's α was 0.62. This finding was similar to the internal consistency of the French and Italian PCL-5 versions (α > .79 and >.95, respectively) [, ]. Additionally, current findings showed that the confirmatory factor analysis of the Arabic version of PCL-5 indicated a good factor structure. These findings are similar to the previous study which has been conducted among 375 Saudis before COVID-19 []. The convergent and discriminant validity of the Arabic version of PCL-5 in the current study is supported by the English version [, , ]. This indicated that the PCL-5 has excellent psychometric properties which could be used for the screening of PTSD. The PTSD checklist is a self-reported instrument to assess the symptoms and can help in the screening process. To confirm the diagnosis of PTSD, referral to a physician is needed."