Thisabstractwaspresentedatthesymposium“Traumaassessment2.0:Usingcustomized
computerappsinclinicalresearchandpraxis”attheXIIICongressofEuropeanSocietyof
TraumaticStressStudies(ESTSS)Conference,Bologna,Italy
DETECTINGADVERSECHILDHOODEXPERIENCESWITHALITTLE
HELPFROMTABLETCOMPUTERS
D.Isele1,M.Ruf‐Leuschner2,R.Pryss3,M.Schauer2,M.Reichert3,J.Schobel3,A.Schindler3andT.
Elbert2
1–DepartmentofPsychology,UniversityofKonstanz,Konstanz,Germany;
2–DepartmentofPsychology,UniversityofKonstanz&vivointernational,Konstanz,Germany;
3‐InstituteofDatabasesandInformationSystems,UniversityofUlm,Ulm,Germany
Adverse childhood experiences, ranging from abuse to emotional neglect, damage the mental
and physical health and may impede the treatment of mental disorders. However, validated
instrumentsthatassesschildhoodadversityincludingthefullrangeofchildhoodmaltreatment
arelacking.Theadversechildhoodexperiencesindex(ACE;Dubeetal.,2003;Felittietal.,1998)
retrospectivelyassesseddifferentformsofabuse,neglect,andhouseholddysfunctioningduring
thefirst18yearsoflife,andquantifiedthe‘‘breadthoftheexperiencedadversities’’,bymeansof
the ACE score. Thus, this instrumentallowsquantifyingthemagnitude or ‘‘dose’’ of toxic
childhoodexperiences.ArecentmodificationoftheACEindex,byTeicherandcolleagues(2011,
MACEScale),gathersinevengreaterdetailedandinmorecomprehensive ways information
about the various types of maltreatment: self experienced abuseorneglect,aswellaspeer
victimization and witnessing domestic violence are all explored in detail. Supplementary
information gained about emotional reactions to the events, and temporal anchoring of the
experienced,arehighlyvaluableforpsychotherapeuticandresearchpurpose.Wepresentshort
versionsoftheMACEandapediatricversion(Iseleetal.,inprep.),adjustedtothecognitiveand
emotionaldevelopmentstatusofminors.Thesenewversionsfilltheneedforstructuredclinical
interviews,mappingabuse,andneglectinthissample.Theirapplicationinclinicalresearchand
therapeuticcontextsisshownincludinganelectronictablet‐computersupportedassessment.
