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July 2015 | Volume 3, Issue 3
EVIDENCE IN ACTION
A quarterly research brief from the
Center on Trauma and Children
Measuring Organizational STS-Informed Practice 

This edition of Evidence in Action presents a review of the Secondary Traumatic Stress Informed Organizational Assessment Tool developed by CTAC researchers and national experts in secondary traumatic stress.The tool can be accessed at:   

http://www.uky.edu/CTAC/STSI-OA .  For electronic scoring of the STSI-OA go to: www.onlyslightly.com/stsi2 .  

 

Suggested citation: Sprang, G., Ross, L., Blackshear, K., Miller, B. Vrabel, C., Ham, J., Henry, J. and Caringi, J. (2014).  The Secondary Traumatic Stress Informed Organization Assessment (STSI-OA) tool, University of Kentucky Center on Trauma and Children, #14-STS001, Lexington, Kentucky.

 

The recognition that Secondary Traumatic Stress (STS) is a real and not uncommon response of professionals working with trauma and survivors of trauma is well-established (Figley, 1995; Stamm, 2002). Emphasis to date has been on understanding prevalence, prevention and mitigation, and response and intervention strategies at the individual worker level (e.g. Bride, 2007; Adams, Boscarino & Figley, 2006; Sprang, Clark & Whitt-Woosley, 2007; Sprang, Craig & Clark, 2011; Craig & Sprang, 2010). Organizational and supervisory factors have been noted to be important (Hensel, Ruiz, Finney & Dewa, 2015; Slattery & Workman, 2011; Pryce, Shalckleford & Pryce, 2007), but there has been no way to systematically measure or understand organizational efforts.  

 

The Secondary Traumatic Stress Informed Organizational Assessment (STSI-OA) is a tool that can be used to evaluate the degree to which an organization is STS-informed and able to respond to the impact of secondary traumatic stress in the workplace.  The STSI-OA identifies specific areas of strength, and opportunities to implement STS-informed policies and practices.  The STSI-OA taps into STS-friendly activities in the areas of resilience-building, psychological and physical safety, policies, leader practices, routine practices, and evaluation and monitoring.

The STSI-OA is designed to be used with a variety of agencies providing a range of services related to trauma. Organizational representatives at any level and in any department may complete the STSI-OA. This national sample of 445 includes respondents from child welfare, community mental health, juvenile justice, healthcare, emergency first response, education and Tribal agencies. A diversity of worker role is also represented in this sample, including front line workers, clinical providers, supervisors and managers.  

 

The STSI-OA has a possible range of total scores from 0 - 160. An examination of national trends from this sample revealed the cutoffs for quartile scores depicted in Table 1.

 

Table 1: Total STSI-OA Score Quartiles

 

25th quartile

47.00

50th quartile

64.00

75th quartile

92.50

Total possible

160.0

 

The current national mean is 77.90 (SD = 47.60). These findings indicate that many organizations may not be well-informed about secondary traumatic stress, and may not be utilizing STS resources and STS-friendly activities to prevent, mitigate or address workplace concerns around traumatic stress.

 

Scores are also available for each of the six domains addressed in the STSI-OA: Resiliency, Safety, Policy, Leadership Practices, Organizational Practices, and Evaluation and Monitoring. The breakdown of findings in each of the areas is instructive in understanding which areas seem particularly challenging for organizations. Findings from this national sample are summarized in Table 2 and indicate that while there is room for improvement across all domains, organizations seem to struggle most with evaluating and monitoring their own STS policies and practices.   

 

Table 2: STSI-OA Domains (n = 445)

 

 

Minimum

Maximum

Mean

SD

Resiliency

0

28

16.07

9.06

Safety

0

28

14.48

8.32

Policy

0

24

10.49

8.54

Leadership

0

36

17.96

12.87

Org practice

0

28

12.58

10.90

Evaluation

0

16

6.31

7.07

 

WHAT MAKES ORGANIZATIONS STS-INFORMED?

  • Understanding, recognizing & monitoring STS

  • Promoting peer support, self-care & supervision

  • Supporting early detection & intervention
  • Protecting physical safety

  • Policies to address STS

  • Regular training and education on STS

  • Self-evaluation of STS-informed policies and practices

REFERENCES
 

Adams, R. E., Boscarino, J.A., & Figley, C.R. (2006). Compassion fatigue and psychological distress among social workers: A validation study. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 76(1), 103-108. 


Bride, B. (2007) Prevalence of secondary traumatic stress among social workers. Social Work, 52(1), 63-70.  

 

Craig, C. & Sprang, G. (2010). Compassion satisfaction, fatigue, and burnout in a national sample of trauma treatment therapists. Anxiety, Stress, & Coping 23(3), 319-339.

 

Figley, C.R. (1995). Compassion fatigue as secondary traumatic stress disorder: An overview. In C.R. Figley (Ed.), Compassion fatigue: Coping with secondary traumatic stress disorder in those who treat the traumatized (pp. 1-20). New York, NY: Brunner/Mazel.

 

Hensel, J.M., Ruiz, C., Finney, C. & Dewa, C.S. (2015). Meta-analysis of risk factors for secondary traumatic stress in therapeutic work with trauma victims. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 28, 83-91.

 

Pryce, J. G., Shackelford, K. K., & Pryce, D. H. (2007). Secondary traumatic stress and the child welfare professional.  Chicago: Lyceum Books.

 

Slattery, S.M. & Goodman, L.A. (2009). Secondary traumatic stress among domestic violence advocates: Workplace risk and protective factors. Violence Against Women, 15(11), 1358-1379.

 

Sprang, G., Clark, J. J., & Whitt-Woosley, A. (2007). Compassion fatigue, compassion satisfaction, and burnout: Factors impacting a professional's quality of life. Journal of Loss and Trauma, 12(3), 259-280.  doi:10.1080/15325020701238093

 

Sprang, G., Craig, C. & Clark, J. (2011). Secondary traumatic stress and burnout in child welfare workers: a comparative analysis of occupational distress across professional groups. Child Welfare, 90(6), 149-168.

 

Stamm, B. H (2002). Measuring compassion satisfaction as well as fatigue: Developmental history of the Compassion Satisfaction and Fatigue Test, in Figley, C.R. (Ed), Treating compassion fatigue. Psychosocial stress series, no. 24., (pp. 107-119). New York, NY: Brunner-Routledge.

University of Kentucky Center on Trauma and Children
859-218-6901 | [email protected] | http://www.uky.edu.ctac
 


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