Secondary Traumatic Stress Scale: an adaptation study

Objective: The aim of the study is to carry out the adaptation of the Secondary Traumatic Stress Scale to Turkish and seek evidence of validity and reliability of the scale. Methods: The study was conducted with a total of 334 health professionals, ranging in age from 17 to 64 years and seniority from 1 to 33 years. Of the participants, 197 (59%) were female, 137 (41%) were male. The study was conducted in psychiatry, emergency and intensive care services and outpatient clinics in Izmir Tepecik Training and Research Hospital. 103 of participants were physicians, 188 were nurses, 21 were emergency medical technicians, and 22 were other health professionals. Confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to test the construct validity of the scale in the study. The relationship between the scale and Organizational Cynicism Scale (OCS) and Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) has been looked into to test criterion validity. The reliability of the scale was calculated by using the Cronbach's alpha internal consistency inference method and confirmatory factor analysis was calculated with the LISREL 8.7 program. Result: Confirmatory factor analysis resulted in compliance indices confirming three dimensional originality, factor loadings ranged from 0.29-0.79 and t values were found as significant. In addition, OCS and MBI Inventory which examined similar constructs resulted in high and significant relationships (0.59 and 0.70). The reliability coefficients of the scale were found to be alpha=0.91 for the total scale of 17 items. In addition, alpha=0.78 for avoidance from subdimension, alpha=0.82 for arousal and alpha=0.84 for emotional violation was calculated. Discussion: As a result of the analysis of the data, it was concluded that traumatic stress scale was a valid and reliable measurement tool