Posttrauma psychosocial effects in children: A systematic review of measurement scales

Abstract

Problem Worldwide, the psychopathological effects of catastrophes such as earthquake, hurricane and war are causing traumas in an enormous number of children. Identification and assessment of the impact on children of catastrophic events is essential to their healing and continued well‐being. Methods To identify the relevant tools Google Scholar, SID, PsycInfo, Medlib, MedLine, and PubMed databases were searched using the relevant Mesh terms and their equivalents including (“anxiety” or “fear” or “depression” or “psychosocial distress” or “prolonged grief” or “trauma general effect”) AND (“tool and measures”) OR (“cognition” and “parents”) AND “scale and measures”) from inception to March 2019. Findings Sixty‐four measures were identified to be applied for measuring traumas’ psychosocial effects on children. Anxiety and depression, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), sexual abuse, trauma general effect and stress were among the important emanated tools to the assessment of posttrauma psychosocial predicaments in children. Conclusion Few measures are identified to measure post trauma fear, prolonged grief and psychosocial distress in young children. However; a suitable scale for assessment of parents’ cognition about general effects of traumas and parents’ cognition about effects of trauma on children is less emphasized in current literature.

The relationship between insomnia and trait anger and anger expression among adolescents

“…It is stated that strengthening child‐family communication with positive parental attitudes can also support anger and aggression management and improve emotional wounds in children who experience stress and traumatic events (Atazadeh, Mahmoodi, & Shaghaghi, 2019; Foubister et al, 2020). It has been shown that children who receive emotional support from their families can control their emotions and manage their problematic behaviors such as anger (Bowie, 2010).…”

Assessment of PTSD and posttraumatic symptomatology in very young children: A systematic review

“…In particular, exposure to domestic violence is known to be more frequently experienced by children under the age of 6‐year old (Fantuzzo & Fusco, 2007). In addition, the youngest children might be highly vulnerable to the negative consequences of adversity, compared to older children (Atazadeh et al, 2019), especially when they have been exposed to trauma during early childhood, age 0–5 years (Dunn et al, 2017). Vulnerability could be explained in large part by the dependence that very young children show toward adults (Lieberman & Horn, 2009) and could also depend on the ongoing and rapid development of their brain structures (Scheeringa et al, 2005).…”

“…Integrating varied measures, and adding more comprehensive evaluations to brief screenings tools, such as evaluations taking into account a large and full panel of posttraumatic symptomatology, or permitting a full diagnosis, could make the assessment more specific and sensitive. A comprehensive assessment plays a vital role, since it is through the specific and early identification of their disorder that children can be guided toward the right course of care (Atazadeh et al, 2019; Balaban, 2006; NCTSN, 2018b; Oh et al, 2018). Identifying the different dimensions of expression in a disorder, beyond its nature, allows healthcare professionals to guide children in a specific therapeutic course, but also offers a benchmark as to the effectiveness of a therapeutic action, making it possible to estimate symptomatological changes by proposing a re‐evaluation.…”

“…Recently, a review of the literature focused on identifying instruments for assessing the impact of traumatic events on children (Atazadeh et al, 2019) but not on the instruments available for young children (0–5 years). Among the instruments identified by the review, few instruments are suitable for young children.…”

Erratum

“…2 Social Determinants of Health (SDH) Research Center, Research Institute for Health Development, Kurdistan University of Medical Sciences, Sanandaj, Iran (Atazadeh, Mahmoodi & Shaghaghi, )…”