The ITEM is a checklist developed to measure exposure to traumatic life events in a manner consistent with the definition of trauma exposure in the 11th version of the International Classification of Diseases.

The ITEM measures exposure to 21 different traumatic life events across different developmental periods: childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. The ITEM is freely available to all interested parties and may be used without permission. ​

Please note that the ITEM uses educational descriptors to aid respondents in accurately identifying the period of their life in which their trauma occurred. The educational descriptors can be amended for the context in which you wish to use the ITEM. Additionally, users may wish to only measure lifetime exposure in which case the developmental periods can be removed.