A traumatic event is a frightening, dangerous, or violent event that poses a threat to a child’s life or bodily integrity. Pediatricians are likely to be the first, and often only healthcare professionals who encounter the 68% of American children who have experienced trauma. Trauma-informed care translates science to inform and improve pediatric care and outcomes. Trauma-informed care (TIC) is defined by the National Child Traumatic Stress Network as medical care in which all parties involved assess, recognize, and respond to the effects of traumatic stress on children, caregivers, and healthcare providers. This includes attention to secondary traumatic stress, the emotional duress that results when an individual hears about the firsthand trauma experiences of another. In the clinical setting TIC includes the prevention, identification and assessment of trauma, response to trauma and recovery from trauma as a focus of all services. TIC can be conceptualized in a public health stratification:
- Primary prevention of trauma and promotion of resilience
- Secondary prevention and intervention for those exposed to potentially traumatic experiences, including parents, siblings, guardians, and health care workers.
- Tertiary care for children who display symptoms related to traumatic experiences.
AAP Recommendations
Trauma-Informed Care in Child Health Systems
Children Exposed to Maltreatment: Assessment and the Role of Psychotropic Medication
Clinical Considerations Related to the Behavioral Manifestations of Child Maltreatment
Resources
The resources below provide information and guidance on how pediatricians and health care providers can make their practices trauma-informed.
Moving Beyond ACE Scores Infographic
This infographic explains why collecting an ACE score is not effective clinically and how to provide trauma-informed care instead.
Get Involved
These groups and programs are involved in Trauma Informed Care.
Screening Technical Assistance & Resource Center (STAR Center)
Early Brain and Child Development (EBCD)
Podcasts and Voices Blogs
Learn what others are saying. Listen to our podcasts and read our blog posts.
Trauma Informed Care - Episode 82
In this episode AAP President-elect Moira Szilagyi, MD, PhD, FAAP, who co-wrote the policy statement and clinical report on trauma-informed care, explains why health systems need to teach workers at every level the best ways to communicate with families.
Pediatrics on Call
|September 28, 2021
Developing Trauma Informed Integrated Care
Using rom-com references, Dr. Heather Forkey shares why mental health professionals provide the best care for children recovering from physical, psychological and emotional trauma.
Voices Blog
|May 4, 2018
