Developing the Premonitory Urges for Tic Disorders Scale-Revised (PUTS-R).

Leoni Baumung,Georgina Jackson,Katherine Dyke,Stephen Jackson,Alexander Münchau,Dennis Golm,Kirsten Müller‐Vahl,Valerie Brandt

doi:10.1111/jnp.12216

Abstract

Patients with Gilles de la Tourette syndrome (GTS) or chronic tic disorders frequently experience premonitory urges prior to tics. The 'Premonitory Urges for Tic Disorders Scale' (PUTS) is commonly used in order to assess urge severity in patients with tics. Several studies suggest that the PUTS might measure more than one dimension of urges. These include the quality and severity of premonitory urges. This study aims to replicate and extend previous findings concerning the psychometric properties of the PUTS and its underlying dimensions in a large sample of 241 patients with GTS including both adults (n=93; mean age=34.2±12.84; 73 male) and minors (n=148; mean age=11.8±2.86; 123 male), pooled from three different recruitment sites. Data analysis confirmed good reliability across the PUTS items for both minors and adults and acceptable item characteristics for items 2-8. A factor analysis of items 1-8 confirmed the existence of two factors in both age groups. The results suggest that the PUTS might benefit from several further small modifications, such as rephrasing items 1 and 9 to increase convergence with the overall construct of the scale. Finally, we propose a revised version of the PUTS, consisting of two subscales: one for urge severity and another one for urge quality by including several new items.

Highlights

Patients with Gilles de la Tourette syndrome (GTS) or chronic tic disorders frequently experience premonitory urges prior to tics
Participants and clinical assessments The data used in this study represent secondary analysis of Premonitory Urges for Tic Disorders Scale’ (PUTS) scores, which were collected as part of routine assessment along with the Yale Global Tic Severity Scale (YGTSS) during a range of different experiments performed across three sites
Non-ordered thresholds further indicate that patients with less intense urges do not necessarily select less intense response options for items 9 and 10

Summary

Introduction

Patients with Gilles de la Tourette syndrome (GTS) or chronic tic disorders frequently experience premonitory urges prior to tics. Several studies suggest that the PUTS might measure more than one dimension of urges. These include the quality and severity of premonitory urges. This study aims to replicate and extend previous findings concerning the psychometric properties of the PUTS and its underlying dimensions in a large sample of 241 patients with GTS including both adults (n = 93; mean age = 34.2 Æ 12.84; 73 male) and minors (n = 148; mean age = 11.8 Æ 2.86; 123 male), pooled from three different recruitment sites. We propose a revised version of the PUTS, consisting of two subscales: one for urge severity and another one for urge quality by including several new items

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion