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Rename PTSD symptom (= PCL-5 item) columns

Source: R/data_preparation.R
rename_ptsd_columns.Rd

Standardizes column names in PCL-5 (PTSD Checklist for DSM-5) data by renaming them to a consistent format (symptom_1 through symptom_20). This standardization is essential for subsequent analyses using other functions in the package.

Usage

rename_ptsd_columns(data)

Arguments

data

A dataframe containing exactly 20 columns, where each column represents a PCL-5 item score. The scores should be on a 0-4 scale where:

  • 0 = Not at all

  • 1 = A little bit

  • 2 = Moderately

  • 3 = Quite a bit

  • 4 = Extremely

Value

A dataframe with the same data but renamed columns following the pattern 'symptom_1' through 'symptom_20'

Details

The function assumes the input data contains exactly 20 columns corresponding to the 20 items of the PCL-5. The columns are renamed sequentially from symptom_1 to symptom_20, maintaining their original order. The PCL-5 items correspond to different symptom clusters:

  • symptom_1 to symptom_5: Intrusion symptoms (Criterion B)

  • symptom_6 to symptom_7: Avoidance symptoms (Criterion C)

  • symptom_8 to symptom_14: Negative alterations in cognitions and mood (Criterion D)

  • symptom_15 to symptom_20: Alterations in arousal and reactivity (Criterion E)

Examples

# Example with a sample PCL-5 dataset
sample_data <- data.frame(
  matrix(sample(0:4, 20 * 10, replace = TRUE),
         nrow = 10,
         ncol = 20)
)
renamed_data <- rename_ptsd_columns(sample_data)
colnames(renamed_data)  # Shows new column names
#>  [1] "symptom_1"  "symptom_2"  "symptom_3"  "symptom_4"  "symptom_5" 
#>  [6] "symptom_6"  "symptom_7"  "symptom_8"  "symptom_9"  "symptom_10"
#> [11] "symptom_11" "symptom_12" "symptom_13" "symptom_14" "symptom_15"
#> [16] "symptom_16" "symptom_17" "symptom_18" "symptom_19" "symptom_20"