Construct Validity of the Secondary Traumatic Stress Scale

Brian Bride
College of Social Work
University of Tennessee
109 Polk
Nashville TN 37210
404-288-4483
bebride@aol.com
Purpose:  The few existing empirical investigations of secondary traumatic stress are limited by their reliance on measurement instruments not specifically designed to assess the psychological consequences of indirect exposure to traumatic events.  The Secondary Traumatic Stress Scale (STSS) was developed in response to the need for a reliable and valid instrument to measure secondary traumatic stress symptoms in helping professionals.  The STSS is a 17-item Likert type scale, designed to measure the intrusion, avoidance, and arousal symptoms characteristic of secondary traumatic stress.  The purpose of the present study was to investigate the construct validity of the STSS.
 
Methods:  A total of 287 licensed social workers (48% response rate) completed a mailed survey that included the STSS.  The study was designed to address three lines of inquiry.  First, the internal consistency of the STSS was examined.  Second, convergent and discriminant validity were assessed by examining the correlation between the STSS and measures of related and unrelated variables.  Third, the factorial validity of the STSS was examined through a structural equation modeling approach to confirmatory factor analysis.
 
Results:  The STSS demonstrated excellent internal consistency (alpha = .94).  Significant correlations were found between the STSS and related variables, but not between the STSS and unrelated variables.  Finally, confirmatory factor analysis supported the three-factor structure of the STSS.  Thus, the results provide good beginning evidence of the reliability and validity of the Secondary Traumatic Stress Scale.
 
Implications:  The STSS has the potential to aid our understanding of the impact of secondary traumatic stress on social workers, their clients, and the organizations in which they work.  Further, the Secondary Traumatic Stress Scale may serve to aid in the evaluation of practice and policy efforts aimed at ameliorating the negative impact of secondary traumatization.