Psychometric properties of the Impact of Event Scale-6 in a sample of victims of bank robbery

Abstract

Gabriele Giorgi,1 Francisco Saverio Fiz Perez,1 Andrea Castiello D’Antonio,1 Nicola Mucci,2 Claudia Ferrero,3 Vincenzo Cupelli,3 Giulio Arcangeli3 1Department of Psychology, European University, Rome, Italy; 2Occupational Medicine Unit, Department of Public Health, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Rome, Italy; 3Health Services Research Unit, Department of Experimental and Clinical Medicine, University of Florence, Florence, Italy Abstract: Bank robberies are becoming a serious problem in Italy. This study aims to evaluate the validity and the reliability of the Italian version of Impact of Event Scale (IES)-6. It is also hypothesized that a potential posttraumatic disorder, as measured by the IES-6, is associated with mental health problems and several peritraumatic variables. A database was built from data collected through a survey of victims of robbery in an Italian bank. The final sample comprised 350 employees. This study tests different models of IES, comparing the validity of IES-6 with the 22-item original version (IES-R) and the 15-item Italian version (recently adopted in a sample of flood victims). A confirmatory factor analysis supported the IES-6 three-factor solution as the best model. In addition, the internal consistency of the IES-6 and the subscales was good. Outcomes revealed a robust structure supporting the composition of the IES-6 Italian version. Keywords: bank robbery, employees, posttraumatic, peritraumatic, Impact of Event Scale, questionnaire