Assessment Tools An Overview of Measures

Resource Centers O National Child Traumatic Stress Network –

Measures Review Database http://www.nctsn.org

O United States Dept of Veteran Affairs, National Center for PTSD http://www.ptsd.va.gov/professional/index.asp

O Suicide Prevention Resource Center http://www.sprc.org online training in risk assessment http://training.sprc.org

Commonly used Trauma Assessments (Elhai et al., 2005)

O A study examining the use of trauma exposure & posttraumatic assessment instruments across 227 clinical & research settings, 44 trauma assessment instruments were used primarily for adults. The most commonly administered: O PTSD Checklist O Trauma Symptom Inventory O Impact of Event Scale-Revised O Clinician-Administered PTSF Scale O Trauma Symptom Checklist for Children

Child & Adolescent Trauma Measures: Review (Strand, Pasquale,

Sarmiento, 2003) O A manual developed as a guide for clinicians &

researchers in their work with traumatized children & adolescents

O 35 instruments reviewed (162 pages) can be downloaded as a pdf from www.nctsn.org

O Types: O Exposure & Symptoms Measures O History of Exposure to Trauma Measures O Impact of Trauma: Symptoms and/or Distress

Indices

Child Trauma Assessment O Examples: O The Child’s Reaction to Traumatic Events Scale

(CRTES) Russell T. Jones, Ph.D. O Young Child PTSD Screen (YCPS) (Scheeringa,

2010). Developmentally-sensitive checklist for young children completed by caregivers. Determines need for referral.

O Young Child PTSD Checklist (Scheeringa, 2010) to assess PTSD in young children, functional impairment.

Adolescent Assessment O Toolkit information

http://www.nctsn.org/resources/topics/adolescence-and-substance-abuse

O Adolescent Traumatic Stress & Substance Abuse Treatment Center; downloads for counseling and working with adolescents (fact sheets & tools) http://www.bu.edu/atssa

Family Trauma Assessment: Tip Sheet for Clinicians

O NCTSN tool provides guidelines for assessing family functioning.

O These need to be adapted to the population and setting. O Assessment of Parenting O Assessment of Family Violence O Assessment of Family Separations O Assessment of Family Functioning (see

handout)

Assessment in Hawai`i O Kealahou a federally funded demonstration

project with adolescent girls uses: O Trauma Symptoms Checklist for Children

(multiple versions for different ages, males, females, parents)

O UCLA PTSD index O At the Women’s Prison:

O Trauma Symptom Inventory O Life Stressor Checklist

Summary O Comprehensive, well-thought out assessments

are critical to understanding: O The specific effects of trauma on individuals, O Relevant treatment or support needed, O Individual and family resources and strengths

O Allows us to discover whether what we are doing is actually helping with healing, recovery & resilience

O And what modifications will help improve outcomes.