Title: (PDF) The Secondary Traumatic Stress Scale (STSS)
Headings: The Secondary Traumatic Stress Scale (STSS)
The Secondary Traumatic Stress Scale (STSS)
Authors:
Sara Sanders
Abstract and Figures
Discover the world's research
The Secondary Traumatic Stress Scale (STSS):
Confirmatory Factor Analyses
with a National Sample
of Mental Health Social Workers
Laura Ting
Jodi M. Jacobson
Sara Sanders
Brian E. Bride
Donna Harrington
SUMMARY. The Secondary Traumatic Stress Scale (STSS; Bride,
Robinson, Yegidis, & Figley, 2004) is an easy to administer 17-item
Laura Ting, PhD, is Assistant Professor, University of Maryland, Baltimore County,
Department of Social Work.
Jodi M. Jacobson, PhD, is affiliated with Towson University, Family Studies Pro-
Sara Sanders, PhD, is affiliated with University of Iowa, School of Social Work.
Brian E. Bride, PhD, is affiliated with University of Georgia, School of Social
Donna Harrington, PhD, is affiliated with University of Maryland, Baltimore,
School of Social Work.
Address correspondence to: Laura Ting, PhD, Assistant Professor, University of
Maryland, Baltimore County, Department of Social Work, 1000 Hilltop Circle, Balti
more, MD 21250 (E-mail: LTing@umbc.edu).
[Haworth co-indexing entry note]: “The Secondary Traumatic Stress Scale (STSS): Confirmatory Factor
Analyses with a National Sample of Mental Health Social Workers.” Ting, Laura et al. Co-published simulta
neously in Journal of Human Behavior in the Social Environment (The Haworth Social Work Practice Press,
an imprint of The Haworth Press, Inc.) Vol. 11, No. 3/4, 2005, pp. 177-194; and: Approaches to Measuring
Human Behavior in the Social Environment (ed: William R. Nugent) The Haworth Social Work Practice
Press, an imprint of The Haworth Press, Inc., 2005, pp. 177-194. Single or multiple copies of this article are
available for a fee from The Haworth Document Delivery Service [1-800-HAWORTH, 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
(EST). E-mail address: docdelivery @haworthpress .com].
Available online at http://www.haworthpress.com/web/JHBSE
 2005 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved.
Citations (72)
References (39)
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Prevalence of Professional Quality of Life (ProQOL) and Its Influence on the Personal Distress of Doctors in Nepal
Latent structure of secondary traumatic stress, its precursors, and effects on people working with refugees
University of Health Sciences, Hamidiye Faculty of Nursing
Aggression toward teachers, interaction with school shooting media, and secondary trauma: Lockdown drills as moderator
Social Work Students in the Aftermath of the Great Flood of 2016: Mental Health, Substance Use, and Adaptive Coping

Content: Gentry, Baranowsky, and
Dunning (2002) note that all professional caregivers will at some point
in their professional lives be forced to confront secondary traumatic
stress and burnout. Working with traumatized clients indisputably has
negative effects upon the mental health professional, including social
workers. Short term reactions to exposure to clients’ traumatic materials include
countertransference, while long term reactions include transformations of
the professional’s own cognitive schemas and beliefs, alteration of one’s
sense of trust and expectations of the world, as well as negative modifica-
tions of one’s assumptions about others (McCann & Pearlman, 1990). Symptoms of vicarious traumatization include intrusive thoughts and im-
ages, avoidant behaviors and emotional numbing, withdrawal, fear, an-
ger, anxiety, and depression. Vicarious traumatization changes are
deemed to be permanent transformations within the therapist (McCann &
Pearlman). Figley (1999, 2002) notes that compassion fatigue is also a reaction
from indirect exposure to a traumatic event. However, compassion fa-
tigue develops as a result of the therapist’s own empathy towards a trau-
matized client in addition to the therapist’s own secondary experience
of the traumatic material. While those suffering from PTSD and com-
passion fatigue often have identical symptoms and distress, the devel-
opment of such empathetic reactions from the mere knowledge of or
“learning of” the trauma without actual experience of harm or threat of
harm is the hallmark of compassion fatigue ( Figley, 2002). Secondary traumatic stress also develops due to the secondary expo
-
sure to traumatic materials, but differs from compassion fatigue in
terms of being the result of the stress from helping or wanting to help the
traumatized client (Figley, 1999). Munroe (1999) has argued that due to
the long term exposure to traumatic material through their work with
clients, the resulting secondary reactions of compassion fatigue and
stress within the helping professionals are similar to primary traumatic
stress reactions from direct exposure.