AUTHOR=Brandt Valerie Cathérine , Beck Christian , Sajin Valeria , Anders Silke , Münchau Alexander TITLE=Convergent Validity of the PUTS JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychiatry VOLUME=7 YEAR=2016 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychiatry/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2016.00051 DOI=10.3389/fpsyt.2016.00051 ISSN=1664-0640 ABSTRACT=
Premonitory urges are a cardinal feature in Gilles de la Tourette syndrome. Severity of premonitory urges can be assessed with the “Premonitory Urge for Tic Disorders Scale” (PUTS). However, convergent validity of the measure has been difficult to assess due to the lack of other urge measures. We investigated the relationship between average real-time urge intensity assessed by an in-house developed real-time urge monitor (RUM), measuring urge intensity continuously for 5 min on a visual analog scale, and general urge intensity assessed by the PUTS in 22 adult Tourette patients (mean age 29.8 ± 10.3 SD, 19 males). Additionally, underlying factors of premonitory urges assessed by the PUTS were investigated in the adult sample using factor analysis and were replicated in 40 children and adolescents diagnosed with Tourette syndrome (mean age 12.05 ± 2.83 SD, 31 males). Cronbach’s α for the PUTS 10 was acceptable (α = 0.79) in the adult sample. Convergent validity between average real-time urge intensity scores (as assessed with the RUM) and the 10-item version of the PUTS (