Trauma Screening and Assessments: Considerations for Specific and Non-Specific Trauma Services

Abstract

In this chapter, screening and assessments within specific and non-specific trauma-informed services will be discussed as integral to both the identification of trauma incidences and as an integral component of trauma therapy. The first part of this chapter will examine how those working in non-specific trauma services can use screening instruments to help identify and make referrals to trauma specific organisations. As outlined already, non-specific trauma services are those who are committed to working from a trauma-informed lens and come into contact with those more likely to have trauma experiences; however, they are not services specifically set up to work with trauma. Some of the challenges and risks when using such assessment are delineated, with helpful tips for their effective use. A table containing some of the brief screening measures found in the extant literature is provided, all of which are psychometrically sound. Moving forward, I explore some of the literature around the assessment process for those seeking trauma specific therapy in services. In doing so, this chapter demonstrates that safety, trust, choice, empowerment and culture considerations from the trauma-informed literature can operate throughout the screening and assessment processes and that ethical imperatives should always be front and centre of the practitioners mind.

Citation

Mahon, D. (2022), "Trauma Screening and Assessments: Considerations for Specific and Non-Specific Trauma Services", Trauma-Responsive Organisations: The Trauma Ecology Model, Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 109-121. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-80382-429-120221007