Development of the Nightmare Intervention and Treatment Evaluation (NITE) Scale

Abstract

Abstract The Nightmare Intervention & Treatment Evaluation (NITE) Scale is a self-report instrument developed to assess nightmare distress among those diagnosed with posttraumatic stress disorder. This article describes two studies that examine the psychometric properties of this scale. Male and female participants ranged in age from 23 to 84 years and were from diverse ethnic backgrounds. The first study (N=129) evaluated factor structure and internal consistency. Fifty-three scale items were tested and reduced to a 32-item scale with 24 items measuring nightmare distress, 6 validity items, and 2 frequency items. Factor analysis identified two factors, Nightmare Mastery and Nightmare Helplessness. In the second study (N=100), the Nightmare Mastery and Nightmare Helpless Scales were found to be reliable with test-retest correlations over an average of one month of .69 and .80 respectively.