Self Assessment Tools
The following tools allow for a basic understanding of how much trauma the individual has witnessed and/or survived during childhood. This is important because the presence of childhood trauma is correlated with negative health outcomes such as obesity but protective factors including hope and/or resilience can mitigate these outcomes. Furthermore, the higher the number of traumatic childhood experiences the higher the likelihood of negative health outcomes including obesity.
The hope and resilience scales offer a basic understanding of the present degree of these qualities and their role in mitigating the negative effects of the childhood trauma. The scores can identify potential areas for improvement and indicate the need for psychoeducation and skill building exercises. Being aware of BMI allows for insight into one of the overtly observable and addressable negative health outcome of childhood trauma. This collection of self-assessment tools creates an individualized
snapshot of the connection between childhood trauma, obesity and hope and resilience
Adverse Childhood Experience (ACE) Scale
Adult Hope Scale (AHS)
Brief Resilience Scale (BRS)
Body Mass Index (BMI)
ACE Scale
Did a parent or other adult in the household often or very often… Swear at you, insult you, put you down, or humiliate you? or Act in a way that made you afraid that you might be physically hurt?
No___If Yes, enter 1 __Did a parent or other adult in the household often or very often… Push, grab, slap, or throw something at you? or Ever hit you so hard that you had marks or were injured?
No___If Yes, enter 1 __Did an adult or person at least 5 years older than you ever… Touch or fondle you or have you touch their body in a sexual way? or Attempt or actually have oral, anal, or vaginal intercourse with you?
No___If Yes, enter 1 __Did you often or very often feel that … No one in your family loved you or thought you were important or special? or Your family didn’t look out for each other, feel close to each other, or support each other?
No___If Yes, enter 1 __Did you often or very often feel that … You didn’t have enough to eat, had to wear dirty clothes, and had no one to protect you? or Your parents were too drunk or high to take care of you or take you to the doctor if you needed it?
No___If Yes, enter 1 __Were your parents ever separated or divorced?
No___If Yes, enter 1 __Was your mother or stepmother:
Often or very often pushed, grabbed, slapped, or had something thrown at her? or Sometimes, often, or very often kicked, bitten, hit with a fist, or hit with something hard? or Ever repeatedly hit over at least a few minutes or threatened with a gun or knife?
No___If Yes, enter 1 __Did you live with anyone who was a problem drinker or alcoholic, or who used street drugs?
No___If Yes, enter 1 __Was a household member depressed or mentally ill, or did a household member attempt suicide? No___If Yes, enter 1 __
Did a household member go to prison?
No___If Yes, enter 1 __
Now add up your “Yes” answers: _ This is your ACE Score
ACE: ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
In 1985, Dr. Vincent Felitti first used The Adverse Childhood Experience (ACE) scale with his clients at an obesity clinic in California. The scale consists of 10 questions about a wide range of traumatic experiences witnessed or experienced during childhood (See Appendix C). Responses on this scale are binary (yes or no) and responses are summed to create a numerical value representing the total number of adverse childhood experiences for the individual. The ACE scale indicates not only the presence or absence of childhood trauma, but most importantly the degree to which ACE’s were prevalent. Specifically, higher scores indicate a higher number of traumatic experiences and the corresponding higher risk of negative health outcomes including obesity.
Adult Hope Scale (AHS)
Scale (taken from http://www.ppc.sas.upenn.edu/hopescale.pdf )
Directions: Read each item carefully. Using the scale shown below, please select the number that best describes YOU and put that number in the blank provided.
1. = Definitely False 2. = Mostly False
3. = Somewhat False 4. = Slightly False
5. = Slightly True
6. = Somewhat True 7. = Mostly True
8. = Definitely True
___ 1. I can think of many ways to get out of a jam. ___ 2. I energetically pursue my goals.
___ 3. I feel tired most of the time.
___ 4. There are lots of ways around any problem. ___ 5. I am easily downed in an argument.
___ 6. I can think of many ways to get the things in life that are important to me.
___ 7. I worry about my health.
___ 8. Even when others get discouraged, I know I can find a way to solve the problem. ___ 9. My past experiences have prepared me well for my future.
___10. I’ve been pretty successful in life.
___11. I usually find myself worrying about something.
___12. I meet the goals that I set for myself.
Scoring:
Items 2, 9, 10, and 12 make up the agency subscale. Items 1, 4, 6, and 8 make up the pathway subscale.
Researchers can either examine results at the subscale level or combine the two subscales to create a total hope score.
AHS: ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
The Adult Hope Scale (AHS) was developed in 1991 by Charles R. Snyder to measure individual’s varying degrees of hope. It consists of 12 statements rated on a Likert-type scale from 1-8 (1 = definitely false and 8 = definitely true). The AHS assesses both pathway and agency components of Snyder’s Hope Theory where pathway thought processes refer to the mental strategies to achieve goals by overcoming barriers or if necessary, choosing an alternate path. Agency refers to the mental energy to direct and sustain effort to remain on pathway in pursuit of goals. Agency thinking requires the ability to self-regulate thoughts, feelings and behaviors during this pursuit. The sum of the scores of the 12 statements represents the individual’s degree of hope.
Snyder, C. R., Harris, C., Anderson, J. R., Holleran, S. A., Irving, L. M., Sigmon, S. T., Yoshinobu, L., Gibb, J., Langelle, C., & Harney, P. (1991). The will and the ways: Development and validation of an individual-differences measure of hope. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 60(4), 570–585.
Brief Resilience Scale (BRS)
Please respond to each item per row Strongly Disagree (1) Disagree (2) Neutral (3) Agree (4) Strongly Agree (5)
I tend to bounce back quickly after hard times 1 2 3 4 5
I have a hard time making it through stressful events. 5 4 3 2 1
It does not take me long to recover from a stressful event. 1 2 3 4 5
It is hard for me to snap back when something bad happens. 5 4 3 2 1
I usually come through difficult times with little trouble. 1 2 3 4 5
I tend to take a long time to get over set-backs in my life. 5 4 3 2 1
Scoring: Add the responses varying from 1-5 for all six items giving a range from 6-30.
Divide the total sum by the total number of questions answered.
My score: ______ item average / 6
BRS: ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
The Brief Resilience Scale (BRS) was developed in 2008 and was designed to assess the ability to bounce back and recover from stress. It consists of rating 6 statements on a 5-point Likert-type scale ranging from strongly agree to strongly disagree (See Appendix B). The total is summed and divided by 6 to provide an indication of the individual’s degree of resilience.
Smith, B. W., Dalen, J., Wiggins, K., Tooley, E., Christopher, P., & Bernard, J. (2008). The brief resilience scale: assessing the ability to bounce back. International journal of behavioral medicine, 15(3), 194-200.
Body Mass Index (BMI)
BMI is a calculation using an individual’s weight and height where weight (in kilograms) is divided by height (in meters squared). Understanding the BMI and relationship to obesity can identify an individual’s weight that is problematic and it’s relationship to a number of health conditions and illnesses (for 30.0 or higher). The following web address provides a BMI calculator for ease of use:
https://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/assessing/bmi/adult_bmi/english_bmi_calculator/bmi_calculator.html
An individual who's BMI is 30.0 or higher is considered obese.