ICDVP Trauma-Informed Care 1 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: What is the foundational question that distinguishes a trauma-informed approach from a traditional service approach?
- What is wrong with you?
- What happened to you? (Correct answer)
- Why can't you just leave?
- How long has this been going on?
Correct answer: What happened to you?
Trauma-informed care shifts the focus from 'What is wrong with you?' to 'What happened to you?' — recognizing that behavior is often a response to past trauma rather than a character flaw.
Question 2: According to SAMHSA's trauma-informed care framework, which of the following is one of the six key principles?
- Immediate intervention
- Trustworthiness and transparency (Correct answer)
- Rapid case closure
- Symptom reduction
Correct answer: Trustworthiness and transparency
SAMHSA's six principles of trauma-informed care include safety, trustworthiness and transparency, peer support, collaboration and mutuality, empowerment, and cultural/historical/gender issues.
Question 3: What does the ACE (Adverse Childhood Experiences) Study primarily demonstrate regarding domestic violence survivors?
- Childhood trauma has no lasting effect on adult health outcomes
- Higher ACE scores are linked to increased risk of health problems and revictimization (Correct answer)
- ACEs only affect individuals who experienced physical abuse
- ACE scores predict whether a person will become an abuser
Correct answer: Higher ACE scores are linked to increased risk of health problems and revictimization
The ACE Study found a strong dose-response relationship between childhood adversity and long-term physical and mental health outcomes, including vulnerability to revictimization.
Question 4: In trauma-informed care, 're-traumatization' refers to which of the following?
- A survivor experiencing a new abusive relationship
- Service practices or environments that inadvertently trigger a survivor's trauma response (Correct answer)
- A therapist reliving their own trauma through client stories
- A survivor who refuses to accept help from an advocate
Correct answer: Service practices or environments that inadvertently trigger a survivor's trauma response
Re-traumatization occurs when service delivery processes, environments, or interactions unintentionally recreate the dynamics of the original trauma, worsening a survivor's distress.
Question 5: Which of the following best describes 'complex trauma' as it relates to domestic violence survivors?
- A single catastrophic event such as a violent assault
- Repeated, prolonged exposure to traumatic events, often within a relationship of dependence (Correct answer)
- Trauma that involves more than one abuser simultaneously
- Trauma that only affects individuals with pre-existing mental health conditions
Correct answer: Repeated, prolonged exposure to traumatic events, often within a relationship of dependence
Complex trauma refers to repeated and prolonged traumatic exposure — such as ongoing domestic violence — especially within relationships of power and dependence, leading to pervasive effects on identity, emotions, and relationships.
Question 6: When a domestic violence survivor appears emotionally shut down or disconnected during an advocacy session, a trauma-informed advocate should first:
- Immediately refer the survivor to psychiatric services
- Recognize this may be a dissociative trauma response and provide a calm, grounding presence (Correct answer)
- Push the survivor to engage more actively to make progress
- Document the survivor as uncooperative in their case file
Correct answer: Recognize this may be a dissociative trauma response and provide a calm, grounding presence
Dissociation is a common trauma response; a trauma-informed advocate recognizes this and responds with patience and grounding techniques rather than labeling the survivor as resistant.
Question 7: Which concept in trauma-informed care describes the idea that trauma exposure is widespread across all populations and service providers must assume any person may have a trauma history?
- Trauma specificity
- Universal precautions for trauma (Correct answer)
- Selective screening
- Diagnostic labeling
Correct answer: Universal precautions for trauma
Universal precautions for trauma means providers assume all clients may have trauma histories and design services accordingly, rather than waiting for trauma to be disclosed or diagnosed.
ICDVP Trauma-Informed Care 1
What is the foundational question that distinguishes a trauma-informed approach from a traditional service approach?