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Child and Adolescent Trauma Screen (CATS)
Updated over a year ago

Brief Description

The Child and Adolescent Trauma Screen Progress Monitoring-Youth Report (CATS Progress-Youth) is a measure of post traumatic stress symptoms in children and adolescents based on the DSM-5 criteria for PTSD. It is used as a progress monitoring tool throughout treatment, as a follow up to the CATS-Youth Report. Respondents rate how often they experience the post traumatic stress symptoms listed (e.g., “Bad dreams reminding you of what happened”) on a scale from “Never” to “Almost always”.


Assessment Administration Type

Self-report; can also be administered by the clinician.


Number of questions

6


Age Range for Administration

7-18


Recommended Frequency of Administration

No standardized frequency; recommend administering weekly or as clinically indicated.


Summary of Scoring and Interpretations

The CATS Progress-Youth contains 6 questions scored on a 4-point Likert scale with values from 0 (“Never”) to 3 (“Almost always”). A total score is calculated by summing the item responses and ranges from 0 to 18; higher scores are associated with higher levels of PTSD symptoms. A score of 4 or greater is considered clinically significant.


Blueprint Adjustments

N/A


Clinical Considerations

  • Estimated completion time: 1-2 minutes

  • The CATS questionnaires are a measure of potentially traumatic events and of posttraumatic stress symptoms. In addition to youth self-report and caregiver reports as screening measures, the youth and parent progress reports can be utilized throughout treatment to monitor symptoms and progress. Note, the CATS does not replace a thorough clinical assessment; it is constructed as a screening instrument with emphasis on sensitivity. Children and adolescents with positive results on the CATS should be diagnosed using a semi-structured or structured clinical interview.


Citation


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