An Integrative Review of Measures of Secondary Traumatic Stress

Abstract

Background and PurposeSecondary traumatic stress (STS) results in detrimental effects in healthcare professionals, impacting the safety of patients and their care. There are multiple instruments being used to measure STS, reflecting the uncertainty on how to best measure STS. The purpose of this review is to present an overview of the state of measurement of STS.MethodsPubMed, CINAHL, and Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews databases were searched using the terms “secondary traumatic stress” AND “measurement.”ResultsThe search resulted in nine applicable articles and four instruments used to measure STS. Utility and psychometric properties of the instruments are examined.ConclusionsThe secondary traumatic stress scale (STSS) is most appropriate to measure STS given that it is the only instrument intended to measure only STS, but psychometric testing with nurses is needed.