This paper describes the development and preliminary validation of the Developmental Trauma Inventory (DTI), which is a 36-item, retrospective, self-administered screen for interpersonal childhood trauma experiences developed specifically for the South African context. Preliminary validation of the inventory was conducted using a sample of 720 school-going adolescents attending a high school in the Durban Metropolitan area (South Africa).

Multiple trauma exposures during childhood are associated with a range of psychological symptoms later in life. In this study, we examined whether the total number of different types of trauma experienced by children (cumulative trauma) is associated with the complexity of their subsequent symptomatology, where complexity is defined as the number of different symptom clusters simultaneously elevated into the clinical range.

This article aims (a) to get insight into intensive care nurses' most critical work-related incidents, (b) their reactions and coping and (c) perceived support, in a Dutch intensive care unit. Research about the impact of critical incidents has largely been aimed at ambulance and emergency nurses, knowledge about intensive care nurses in this respect is scarce. Persistent stress reactions after critical incidents may cause symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and anxiety. Unresolved problems may also cause poor behaviour towards patients.

Only a few studies have examined cortisol response to trauma-related stressors in relation to posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). We followed a sample of high-exposure survivors of the attacks on September 11, 2001 (9/11, 32 men and 29 women) and examined their cortisol response after recalling the escape from the attack, 7 and 18 months post-9/11. PTSD symptoms and saliva cortisol levels were assessed before and after trauma recollection. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that PTSD symptoms and male sex predicted increased cortisol response following recollections.