Development and Validation of the Secondary Traumatic Stress Scale

TLDR

The study aims to develop and validate the 17‑item Secondary Traumatic Stress Scale (STSS) for measuring intrusion, avoidance, and arousal symptoms in social workers exposed to traumatized clients, and to enable research on preventing and reducing secondary traumatic stress. The authors administered the STSS to 287 licensed social workers via a mailed survey to assess its psychometric properties. The STSS demonstrated strong reliability, convergent and discriminant validity, and factorial validity, confirming it as a reliable and valid tool for measuring secondary traumatic stress in social work practice.

Abstract

Objective: To describe the development and validation of the Secondary Traumatic Stress Scale (STSS), a 17-item instrument designed to measure intrusion, avoidance, and arousal symptoms associated with indirect exposure to traumatic events via one’s professional relationships with traumatized clients. Method: A sample of 287 licensed social workers completed a mailed survey containing the STSS and other relevant survey items. Results: Evidence was found for reliability, convergent and discriminant validity, and factorial validity. Conclusions: The STSS fills a need for reliable and valid instruments specifically designed to measure the negative effects of social work practice with traumatized populations. The instrument may be used to undertake empirical investigation into the prevention and amelioration of secondary traumatic stress among social work practitioners.