Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ’s)

The ARTIC was developed because historically there was no objective way to determine the extent to which a system or individual was trauma-informed. The many definitions of trauma-informed care (TIC) tended to be vague, with little guidance about how to operationalize the concept.

We believed that the TIC field was primed to move from conceptual thinking to data-driven decision making, but was blocked by the absence of valid instruments. The ARTIC Scale is a low-cost, practical, and immediate way to measure staff attitudes as one indicator of the progress of TIC implementation within organizations and schools, and for individuals. Click here for journal article on the ARTIC in School Mental Health.

The ARTIC is based on the theory that professionals’ attitudes are an important driver of their behavior. If their attitudes about TIC change, then their moment-to-moment behavior with clients or students will also change, and this would be a critical factor in successful implementation of TIC. Therefore, if TIC interventions could impact staff beliefs it could lead to meaningful TIC change.

Organizations and schools can use the ARTIC Scale for a variety of reasons, including to assess readiness for TIC implementation; to measure change throughout the course of TIC intervention; to monitor changes in staff beliefs over time; to determine what TIC messaging requires additional support and reinforcement within the system; and to identify which groups of staff may benefit from additional TIC training and supervision. Using the ARTIC Scale in these ways can spur organizations to deepend their commitment to TIC and prevent backsliding in TIC practice, a common pitfall in implementation.

The ARTIC Scale is intended for use with professionals and paraprofessionals 18 years and older. The ARTIC Scale has been used widely in foster care, outpatient, residential, child protection, health, juvenile justice, public and therapeutic schools, early education, intellectual and developmental disability (IDD)-serving agencies, primary health care, and substance abuse settings. It is important to note that in certain settings, such as IDD and primary care, the sample used to create the measures did not include professionals from this sector.

The ARTIC Scale does not have established norms, which generally require the use of a large, national representative sample. Creating national norms for a measure is costly and takes many years to develop.

There are 6 versions of the ARTIC scale available publicly: three for human service organizations and three for education settings. Organizations and schools select the version that is most appropriate for their setting and how they plan to use the ARTIC Scale. All 6 versions are included when you purchase the ARTIC Scale.

ARTIC FOR HUMAN SERVICES

1. ARTIC-45 — Human Services

• 45-item scale. Takes 15-20 minutes to complete. Includes an overall score and scores on five primary subscales and two supplementary subscales.
• To be used in human service settings where staff are at least somewhat familiar with term and concept of TIC.

2. ARTIC-35 — Human Services

• 35-item scale. Takes 10-15 minutes to complete. Includes an overall score and scores on five primary subscales, but excludes the two supplementary subscales.
• To be used in human service settings where staff are not familiar with the term and concept of TIC.

3. ARTIC-10 — Human Services

• 10-item short form. Takes 5 minutes to complete. Includes overall score only.
•  To be used in human service settings where there are time or resource limitations that make the ARTIC-45 and ARTIC-35 not feasible.

ARTIC FOR EDUCATION

1. ARTIC-45 — Education

• 45-item scale. Takes 15-20 minutes to complete. Includes an overall score and scores on five primary subscales and two supplementary subscales.
• To be used in education settings where staff are familiar with the term and concept of TIC.
• Language modified to fit education settings (i.e. “student” rather than “client”).

2. ARTIC-35 — Education

• 35-item scale. Takes 10-15 minutes to complete. Includes an overall score and scores on five primary subscales, but excludes the two supplementary subscales.
• To be used in education settings where staff are not familiar with the term and concept of TIC.
• Language modified to fit education settings (i.e. “student” rather than “client”).

3. ARTIC-10 — Education

• 10-item short form. Takes 5 minutes to complete. Includes overall score only.
•  To be used in education settings where there are time or resource limitations that make the ARTIC-45 and ARTIC-35 not feasible.
• Language modified to fit education settings (ie. “student” rather than “client”).

Core Subscales (ARTIC-35 and ARTIC-45) (There are no subscales in the ARTIC-10)

1. Underlying Causes of Problem Behavior and Symptoms. Emphasizes behavior and symptoms as adaptations and malleable versus behavior and symptoms as intentional and fixed.
2. Responses to Problem Behavior and Symptoms. Emphasizes relationships, flexibility, kindness, and safety as the agent of behavior and symptom change versus rules, consequences, and accountability as the agent of change.
3. Empathy and Control (previously named On-the-Job Behavior). Endorses empathy-focused staff behavior versus control-focused staff behavior.
4. Self-Efficacy at Work. Endorses feeling able to meet the demands of working with a traumatized population versus feeling unable to meet the demands.
5. Reactions to the Work. Endorses appreciating the effects of secondary trauma/vicarious traumatization and coping by seeking support versus minimizing the effects of secondary trauma/vicarious traumatization and coping by ignoring or hiding the impact.

 Supplementary Subscales (ARTIC-45 only)

6. Personal Support of Trauma-Informed Care. Endorses being supportive of, and confident about, implementation of TIC versus concerns about implementing TIC.

7. System-Wide Support of Trauma-Informed Care. Endorses feeling system-wide support for TIC versus NOT feeling supported by colleagues, supervisors, and the administration to implement TIC.

When you purchase the ARTIC Scale, you will receive detailed instructions about scoring. Most people collecting ARTIC data use a statistical program such as SPSS to score and analyze the data. We do, however, include an ARTIC Excel Scoring Spreadsheet with your purchase.

As a general overview, the ARTIC uses a bipolar Likert scale. Items are scored from 1 to 7 and there are items that need to be reversed because a lower score is more favorable on those items. The Scoring Spreadsheet does this work for you. Mean scores (not total scores) are used for scoring. Higher scores are more favorable, or better, scores. Lower scores are less favorable. On Questions 36 to 45 (Subscales 6 and 7) “N/A” is offered as an option for people who do not work at an organization that has implemented trauma-informed care. These items are scored as missing when N/A is selected.

If you collect ARTIC data via an online survey platform such as Qualtrics, you can download an Excel data file and either enter it into the ARTIC Excel Scoring Spreadsheet or a statistical program such as SPSS. It is possible to manage and analyze your data in Qualtrics. However, we do NOT provide information or support regarding that process.

We currently do not offer stand-alone consultation on reporting/analyzing with the ARTIC scale. We do offer program evaluation via our Online ARTIC dashboard to all organizations engaged in Risking Connection Change Model to Trauma-Informed Care. Learn more about Risking Connection Change Model HERE.

You will receive all of these files electronically:

• All versions (10-, 35-, and 45-question) for human service and education settings
• Instructions on how to use the ARTIC Scale
• Scoring instructions, including SPSS syntax
• A scoring spreadsheet allowing easy and accurate scoring
• Qualtrics-compatible files for the ARTIC. Visit the Qualtrics website for their fee information. The free version of Qualtrics is not robust enough for use with the ARTIC Scale.

Limited translated versions are available upon request. We currently offer the ARTIC scale in Dutch, Farsi, French, Greek, Japanese, Spanish, and Turkish. These translations have not been validated, but they have been back-translated with guidance from The standard WHODAS 2.0 Translation method.

Please Note: We are not currently accepting new requests for additional translations. If you are interested in future collaborations on a language translation not yet available, please submit your interest via THIS FORM.

The ARTIC is currently licensed to purchasers based on the expected number of respondents. Pricing tiers start at $750 for up to 500 respondents and the ARTIC may be used as many times as you would like per respondent. If you purchase the ARTIC and eventually expand the scope beyond your license, we ask that you contact us about additional fees.

The quickest way to purchase the ARTIC is by credit card via our secure online payment system. When you purchase online, you will receive your materials immediately by e-mail, along with a receipt. If you need to pay by check or payment order, please go through the purchase process but check off the “I need to pay by invoice or purchase order” option and contact us via THIS FORM.

Reduced or waived fees are available only to students with studies of less than 500 participants. Please click here to view more details and apply for the student researcher license.

SAMHSA recently released a Practical Guide for Implementing a Trauma-Informed Approach, which cites the ARTIC scale as a resource and includes the Traumatic Stress Institute’s Risking Connection Change Model as one of several frameworks used to develop their guide. It focuses specifically on tools and strategies for implementing a trauma-informed approach.