Introducing the Early Trauma Inventory Self Report - Short Form and its Qualitative and Quantitative Validation for the Slovenian General Population

INTRODUCTION: Traumatic experience in childhood or adolescence has a significant impact on the development of chronic mental and physical conditions in adulthood. Thus, it is very important for health professionals, especially primary care physicians to have an inventory in order to detect early trauma for planning appropriate treatment, such as the Early Trauma Inventory (ETI). The aim of this paper is to test the psychometric properties of the Slovenian translation of the short, self-rated version (ETISR-SF), and to further validate the instrument. METHODS: The research was done in two parts – qualitative and quantitative. In the qualitative part, a questionnaire was translated and culturally adapted using the Delphi method. For the quantitative part, 51 patients with substance use disorders hospitalized at the Centre for the Treatment of Drug Addictions were recruited, along with 133 controls. The psychometric properties of the questionnaire were checked. Internal consistency was calculated using Cronbach’s alpha, test-retest reliability was examined graphically using a Bland-Altman plot. Discriminant validity between groups was gauged using the independent samples t-test. RESULTS: Consensus in the Delphi study was reached in the second round. Cronbach’s alpha varied between 0.60 - 0.85. Of the four domains, physical abuse had the lowest Cronbach’s alpha. The test-retest reliability is high for all domains, with correlation coefficients ranging from 0.82 to 0.96. The non-clinical sample differed significantly from the clinical sample. CONCLUSION: The Slovenian translation of ETISR-SF is a satisfactory instrument for the evaluation of trauma before the age of 18.