Selecting a measure for assessing secondary trauma in nurses

Area of Science:

• Nursing Research
• Psychological Trauma Assessment
• Occupational Health

Background:

• Secondary trauma, a persistent reaction to life-threatening situations, affects nursing staff.
• The concept of secondary trauma is increasingly studied but lacks consistent definitions and rigorously tested measures.
• Existing measures for secondary traumatic stress in nurses have limitations in psychometric evaluation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To summarize the utility of psychometric tools for assessing secondary trauma in nursing staff.
• To examine the strengths and limitations of available assessment measures.
• To guide researchers in selecting the most suitable tools for their studies.

Main Methods:

• A systematic literature search was conducted across multiple health and nursing databases (BNI, CINAHL, EMBASE, PILOTS, Medline, PsycINFO, Cochrane Library).
• The search covered publications from 1980 to 2014.
• Search terms included variations of 'nurse', 'PTSD', 'secondary trauma', 'secondary traumatic stress', 'STS', and 'compassion fatigue'.

Main Results:

• The Secondary Traumatic Stress Scale (STSS) is the only tool that has undergone robust peer review.
• The Professional Quality of Life Scale (ProQOL) is frequently used but lacks sufficient psychometric evaluation.
• Validated instruments like the HADS and GHQ-28 are suitable for assessing broader psychological morbidity.

Conclusions:

• The STSS is the most validated tool for assessing secondary trauma in nursing staff.
• Researchers should prioritize using the STSS when secondary trauma is suspected in nursing work.
• For broader psychological assessments, HADS and GHQ-28 are recommended.