Most frequently used instruments for the assessment of exposure to Adverse Childhood Experiences: a literature review

ABSTRACT

This study aimed to identify and describe the most frequently used instruments in epidemiological research to assess Adverse Childhood Experiences, in the past ten years. This is an integrative literature review, whose inclusion criteria were: full text articles in English, Spanish and Portuguese, published and indexed in the Medline and Lilacs databases, which cited in the summary the assessment instruments used in the studies. Six of the 38 instruments identified in the 253 articles selected for analysis were analyzed. The most cited instruments were: 1) Childhood Trauma Questionnaire, 2) Childhood Experience of Care and Abuse, 3) Adverse Childhood Experiences Questionnaire, 4) Child Abuse and Trauma Scale, 5) Early Trauma Inventory Self Report and 6) Adverse Childhood Experiences International Questionnaire. The instruments described differed in terms of psychometric properties, age for application and number of Adverse Childhood Experiences assessed. Studies published in international journals in the English language predominated. Three instruments have a Brazilian Portuguese version, one of which only considers the assessment of specific aspects of Adverse Childhood Experiences, while the other two also evaluates other traumatic experiences.

KEYWORDS
Surveys and questionnaires; Adverse childhoold experiences; Adult survivors of childhood trauma; Child maltreatment