Traumatic Events Screening Inventory [TESI-24]

Description

The Traumatic Events Screening Inventory – Parent Report Revised (TESI-PRR) is a 24-item caregiver-report instrument designed to screen children’s lifetime exposure to a broad range of potentially traumatic events.

It covers events that children may have experienced directly or witnessed, including:

  • Serious accidents and natural disasters.
  • Severe illness and medical procedures.
  • Bereavement and separation from a caregiver.
  • Physical or sexual abuse.
  • Emotional abuse and neglect.
  • Domestic and community violence.
  • War, armed conflict, or terrorism.
  • Other significantly stressful experiences.

Aim

The TESI-24 aims to document a child’s history of exposure to potentially traumatic experiences systematically. It can support:

  • Early identification of children requiring comprehensive assessment.
  • Examination of the nature and extent of traumatic exposure.
  • Clinical planning and referral to appropriate services.
  • Research into associations between trauma and psychosocial functioning.
  • Assessment of cumulative exposure to different event categories.

The TESI-24 is a screening instrument rather than a diagnostic test. It does not independently assess all symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder and cannot establish a PTSD diagnosis.

Administration

The revised parent-report version is generally administered as a questionnaire or semi-structured interview. A parent or primary caregiver indicates whether the child has experienced each event using responses such as:

  • Yes
  • No
  • Unsure

When exposure is reported, additional information may be collected about the child’s age, the timing and duration of the event, recurrence, people involved, and the child’s response.

Administration should follow trauma-informed principles and take place in a safe and confidential setting. Questions concerning possible abuse require appropriate professional training and adherence to applicable child-protection procedures.

Data Analysis and Use

Each category of potentially traumatic exposure may be coded as:

  • 0 = No exposure reported
  • 1 = Exposure reported

Positive responses can be summed to produce a cumulative exposure score ranging from 0 to 24. A higher score indicates exposure to more categories of potentially traumatic events, not necessarily greater symptom severity or more serious psychopathology.

Analysis may include:

  • Frequencies and percentages for each event category.
  • Total number of different exposure categories.
  • Comparisons between demographic or clinical groups.
  • Correlations with post-traumatic stress, behavioral, and functional measures.
  • Logistic or linear regression.
  • Analysis of multiple-trauma exposure patterns.

Some studies classify participants into no-, low-, and high-exposure groups. These categories represent study-specific analytical decisions and should not be treated as universal clinical thresholds.

Scoring and Interpretation

The TESI-24 does not use conventional Likert-type scoring and does not directly measure symptom intensity. Its basic score represents the number of different traumatic-event categories reported.

A positive response does not independently demonstrate the presence of a mental disorder. Similarly, the total score does not fully represent:

  • The event’s severity.
  • Its frequency or duration.
  • The child’s developmental age at exposure.
  • The child’s relationship with the person responsible.
  • The child’s subjective response.
  • The presence of protective factors.

Results should therefore be interpreted alongside clinical interviews, standardized symptom measures, and information obtained from multiple sources.

References

Ghosh Ippen, C., Ford, J., Racusin, R., Acker, M., Bosquet, K., Rogers, C., Ellis, C., Schiffman, J., Ribbe, D., & Cone, P. (2002). Traumatic Events Screening Inventory – Parent Report Revised. Child Trauma Research Project of the Early Trauma Network and National Center for PTSD Dartmouth Child Trauma Research Group.

Ford, J. D., Racusin, R., Ellis, C. G., Daviss, W. B., Reiser, J., Fleischer, A., & Thomas, J. (2000). Child maltreatment, other trauma exposure, and posttraumatic symptomatology among children with oppositional defiant and attention deficit hyperactivity disorders. Child Maltreatment, 5(3), 205–217. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077559500005003001

Terr, L. C. (1991). Childhood traumas: An outline and overview. American Journal of Psychiatry, 148(1), 10–20. https://doi.org/10.1176/ajp.148.1.10