PTSD Assessment Instruments
Traumatic Events Screening Inventory—Child (TESI-C)
The Traumatic Events Screening Inventory—Child (TESI-C) is a guide for
clinical and/or research interviewing to screen for a child's history of
exposure to potentially traumatic experiences. The protocol is designed to help
clinicians systematically focus on the primary domains of trauma for children,
which include direct exposure to or witnessing of severe accidents, illness or
disaster, family or community conflict or violence, and sexual molestation. The
questions are arranged to review experiences in an order that helps the child
tolerate the possible stress of disclosing traumatic experiences. The interview
gradually leads up to the most intimate of the potentially traumatic
experiences (i.e., sexual trauma is reserved for the end of the interview) and
is structured in a way that helps the child recall not only physical
harm/violence but also incidents of threatened harm and witnessed trauma.
The interview includes sixteen items that survey the domains of potential
traumatic experiences. Each item rated YES is followed immediately with probes
to determine the child and interviewer's view of the life threat/severe
injury/risk of severe injury (OBJECTIVE).
Each item rated YES is also followed by three probes eliciting the
child's appraisal of the potentially traumatic incident(s) described for that
item (APPRAISAL).
NOTE: Regarding clinical/forensic use, this protocol provides hypotheses,
not a definitive identification or rule-out. All findings should be
corroborated by information from independent sources. The interview is designed
for use only by qualified mental-health professionals or advanced trainees
supervised by a mental-health professional who is licensed for independent
practice in child assessment and psychotherapy. The interviewer should also have supervised experience in
assessment or psychotherapy with child survivors of trauma and their families.
The TESI-C is available free to mental-health professionals with advanced training in the administration of diagnostic instruments for clinical or research purposes. To obtain a copy of the TESI-C, fill out the request form.
1.3 Have you ever been in a really bad storm, like a tornado, a hurricane,
or a blizzard? Or in a flood or an earthquake? Or were you ever hit by
lightning?
a)
How old were you when this happened? Age(s) (1)___ (2)___
(3)___ What happened?
b) Were you hurt? [What was the hurt?] Did you go to the doctor or hospital?
(If Yes, note for Section 1.5 below). Was someone else hurt in the (natural
disaster)? (Who? What was the hurt? Did they go to the doctor or hospital?) c)
(Interviewer: Ask only if not already clear from child's description…)When this
happened, were you really hurt? Was someone else really hurt or even killed?
d) (Interviewer: In your clinical judgment, was each incident life
threatening? Was or could the child or another person have been killed/severely
injured?)
e) When (natural disaster) was happening, did you feel as scared as you'd
ever been, like this was one of the scariest things that (EVER) happened to
you?
f) When (natural disaster) happened, did you feel confused or mixed-up (or
helpless)?
g) Did (natural disaster) make you feel sick or disgusted (or horrified)?
TESI-C Request Form
