Description

The Child and Adolescent Trauma Screen (CATS) is a self-report measure designed to assess trauma exposure and post-traumatic stress symptoms in children and adolescents. It includes items that ask about the frequency of intrusive thoughts, nightmares, avoidance behaviors, emotional distress, negative changes in mood and thinking, hyperarousal, and functional impairments in the past two weeks. Participants rate each symptom on a scale from “Never” to “Almost always.” Additional questions assess whether these symptoms have interfered with key areas of functioning, such as relationships, school, or general happiness. The CATS is used to identify trauma-related distress and guide decisions about mental health support or trauma-informed care.

AI/AN Communities where the measure has been used

Unknown

Demographics of AI/AN participants where the scale has been used

Unknown

Notes on adaptations or modifications

  1. The first set of items (25 items) is a caregiver report on youth aged 7-17, and the second set of items (21 items) is a caregiver report on youth aged 3-6. Note: There is also a youth self-report version of this measure (not in the REDCap version in the measurement repository, but reported in Sachser et al.)
  2. This measure has been adapted to only include 20 items measuring DSM-5 PTSD symptoms and 5 items measuring psychosocial functioning (no questions about traumatic events)

Modality and administration

Caregiver/parent report on child; this measure is administered using paper and pencil, REDCAP mobile app, or an online REDCap link sent to the participant

Scoring

CATS includes 20 core symptom items, each rated on a 4-point scale: 0 = “Never,” 1 = “Once in a while,” 2 = “Half the time,” and 3 = “Almost always.” These items assess the frequency of post-traumatic stress symptoms over the past two weeks. Scores for these items are summed to calculate a total symptom severity score ranging from 0 to 60, with higher scores indicating greater severity of symptoms. In addition, five yes/no items assess whether these symptoms interfere with important areas of daily functioning (e.g., relationships, school, general well-being). A total score of 21 or higher is generally considered the clinical cutoff for likely PTSD, though this threshold may vary depending on the population or context.

Psychometric evidence

In Sachser et al., 2017, US sample of Cronbach’s alpha α=.92 for CATS self-report version, α=.94 for the caregiver report version, and α=.92 for the preschool version. Reliabilities for CATS subscales for self-report version and caregiver version for US samples, German sample, and Norwegian samples.

Citation(s)

Sachser, C., Berliner, L., Holt, T., Jensen, T. K., Jungbluth, N., Risch, E., Rosner, R., & Goldbeck, L. (2017). International Development and Psychometric Properties of the Child and Adolescent Trauma Screen (CATS). Journal of Affective Disorders, 210, 189–195. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2016.12.040