ACE Screening

DUE FRIDAY BY 8PM

Various types of screening are often conducted in the early stages of social work with a client to gain a better understanding of their background and presenting concerns. Screening may also assist a social worker in detecting certain conditions that benefit from immediate intervention or provide a social worker with key information that helps them ensure a treatment approach aligns with a client’s specific needs. Why might it be valuable for a social worker to screen a child for adverse childhood experiences (ACEs)? Alternatively, how might it be harmful to screen a child for ACEs?

In this Assignment, you analyze the benefits and risks of ACE screening and consider how a social worker could best utilize ACE screening to inform their work with children and families.  

To prepare:

Review the Learning Resources on ACE screening.

Use the ACEs Aware website to conduct an ACE screening on yourself and consider how your understanding of your own ACEs score could inform your professional work with children and families.

Note: You will not be asked to share these results.

• ACE screening tools can be beneficial to clients but also carry risks, particularly if screening is not accompanied by referrals to needed resources. Consider how a social worker could navigate these risks and benefits to use the tool effectively in their work with children and families.  
• Submit a 2-page paper that addresses the following: 

Using evidence from the Learning Resources, describe the purpose of an ACE screening tool and explain why it is used by professionals working with children and families.

• Describe some of the potential benefits and risks of routine ACE screening and explain what you, as a social worker, could do to mitigate the risks.
• Identify a few additional factors you might want to screen for, in addition to the ACEs included in the ACEs Aware screening tool, and explain how this additional knowledge could inform your work with children and families. 

Use the Learning Resources to support your Assignment. Make sure to provide APA citations and a reference list.

NEED THE FOLLOWING REFERENCES UTILIZED AND CITED

ACEs Aware. (n.d.). Screening tools. https://www.acesaware.org/learn-about-screening/sc…

• Ford, K., Hughes, K., Hardcastle, K., Di Lemma, L. C. G., Davies, A. R., Edwards, S., & Bellis, M. A. (2019). The evidence base for routine enquiry into adverse childhood experiences: A scoping reviewLinks to an external site.. Child Abuse & Neglect, 91, 131–146. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2019.03.007

   

• Mendel, W. E., Sperlich, M., & Fava, N. M. (2021). “Is there anything else you would like me to know?”: Applying a trauma-informed approach to the administration of the adverse childhood experiences?questionnaireLinks to an external site..?Journal of Community Psychology,?49(5), 1079–1099. https://doi.org/10.1002/jcop.22562

   

• SmithBattle, L., Loman, D. G., Yoo, J. H., Cibulka, N., & Rariden, C. (2022). Evidence for revising the adverse childhood experiences screening tool: A scoping reviewLinks to an external site.. Journal of Child & Adolescent Trauma, 15(1), 89–103. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40653-021-00358-w