Screening Children for Adverse and Positive Childhood Experiences in Primary Care

With their predictable contact and rapport with families, pediatricians, and pediatric care teams have great potential for promoting trauma resilience, including positive childhood experiences (PCEs), and identifying and responding early to childhood trauma and traumatic stress. This article provides an overview of practical screening measures for both trauma exposure and posttraumatic stress alongside PCEs that can be utilized by pediatric providers. We first discuss the history of trauma screening in primary care, provide brief descriptions of screening tools for primary care practice, and end with clinical, training, and research implications.