Trauma-Informed Care Beliefs Scale
As part of Dr Nathan Beehag’s PhD, he developed and evaluated two scales measuring child welfare carer beliefs about trauma-informed care (TIC). Scales are available freely upon request.
As part of Dr Nathan Beehag’s PhD, he developed and evaluated two scales measuring child welfare carer beliefs about trauma-informed care (TIC): the Trauma-Informed Care Beliefs Scale-Brief (TIBS-B) and the Trauma-Informed Care Beliefs Scale-Comprehensive (TIBS-C). These scales are freely available upon request, please email support@thereadclinic.com
Background
The rationale for developing the TIC beliefs scales was related to the absence of psychometrically valid TIC scales for carers, given that carers play the most important role in creating a trauma-informed environment for young people in child welfare (Cox et al., 2021; Metz et al., 2007). Carers spend more time with young people than case workers or therapists, therefore, as most TIC models indicate, the important role of carers is indisputable (Crawley et al., 2021; Murphy et al., 2017; Purvis et al., 2013). In particular, the relationship between carer and young person is one of the most critical aspects for young person’s trauma recovery (See to Chapter 3 in Nathan’s dissertation; e.g., Crawley et al., 2021).
Paradoxically, despite the critical role carers have in supporting young people, carers report being inadequately trained, isolated, not heard, and overwhelmed (November & Sandall, 2020). This paradox was the catalyst for a TIC beliefs scale for carers to be developed.
A TIC beliefs scale can assist clinicians and case workers to understand carer beliefs on TIC, including an implicit measure of their TIC knowledge, and then use the results as part of an overall assessment to guide training and support needs for carers.
Further to this, it is not financially viable or socially appropriate to directly observe whether carers are implementing TIC practices in their homes; therefore, a TIC beliefs scale may prove to be an efficient method to estimate the likelihood of, or predict, TIC implementation, and, similarly, guide future training and support needs (Baker et al., 2021; Baker et al., 2016; Fishman et al., 2021).
Lastly, the TIC literature indicates that carers with favourable TIC beliefs appear to be associated with a range of positive outcomes for carers, young people, and child welfare agencies (Beehag, McGrath, et al., 2023b; Jankowski et al., 2019; Lang et al., 2016; Rivard et al., 2004).
It was the combination of the above reasons that identified the need to develop valid and reliable TIC beliefs scales for carers.
Click here to access Nathan’s full dissertation.
The Scales
TIBS-B
A brief tool derived from a Rasch analysis of earlier data from Nathan’s Masters Thesis. It aims to provide a quick measure of TIC beliefs with 13-items. TIBS-B demonstrated solid psychometric properties and is suitable for use when time constraints prevent the use of the more comprehensive TIBS-C.
TIBS-C
A more comprehensive 35-item trauma informed care beliefs scale. It covers the three key constructs identified in trauma informed care literature: trauma-informed care strategies, knowledge of trauma’s impact, and carer self-care. The development of this scale involved analysing data from 719 carers across Australia, UK, USA, Canada, England and Scotland. The final TIBS-C showed good psychometric properties, including internal reliability and unidimensionality.
These scales are freely available upon request, please email support@thereadclinic.com
Note: Nathan would like to express his gratitude to all the carers (nearly 1500) from various parts of the world who took the time to participate in the studies. In Nathan’s opinion, carers, in all forms of child welfare, have one of the most demanding jobs on earth. The sacrifice that you make to be a carer is significant, can be traumatising, can disrupt your plans for your own biological family, and unfortunately, despite your personal sacrifices, most carers remain underappreciated and not well enough supported. We hope that these scales presented here can assist in better supporting all carers. Thank you for being a carer and thank you for participating in the development of these scales.