Psychometric properties of the Questionnaire for Secondary Traumatization

Figures & data

Table 1 FST items

			M
	Item	Scale	Sample 1	Sample 2	Sample 3
1.	I ruminated on what happened to the client.	General	2.60	3.39	2.30
2.	I unwillfully thought about what happened to the client.	Intrusion	2.28	2.96	2.08
3.	I had intrusive images or sensations that are connected to what I was told.	Intrusion	1.77	2.38	1.74
4.	I felt like reliving my clients’ experience.	Intrusion	1.32	1.67	1.45
5.	I was afraid something bad could happen to me.	Feeling of threat	1.41	1.45	1.41
6.	I had disturbing dreams that are connected to what I was told.	Intrusion sleep	1.30	1.65	1.24
7.	I witnessed in my dream what happened to my client.	Intrusion sleep	1.09	1.27	1.08
8.	I dreamt of what happened to my client as if it were happening to me.	Intrusion sleep	1.04	1.13	1.02
9.	When I was reminded of my clients’ experience I felt distressed.	Intrusion	2.25	2.39	1.86
10.	When I was reminded of my clients’ experience I reacted with physiological arousal and stress.	Intrusion	1.94	1.99	1.49
11.	I tried not to think of my clients’ experience.	Active avoidance	1.89	2.23	1.45
12.	I avoided objects, places or activities that reminded me of my clients’ experience.	Active avoidance	1.22	1.34	1.01
13.	I felt alienated from other people.	Neg cog and mood	1.63	1.52	1.27
14.	I withdrew from other people or was less active than normally.	Neg cog and mood	1.91	1.59	1.55
15.	My emotions were less intense than normally.	Neg cog and mood	1.62	1.51	1.44
16.	I was less interested in activities that I normally enjoy a lot.	Neg cog and mood	1.72	1.65	1.49
17.	I focused more on my personal safety.	Feeling of threat	1.78	1.64	1.65
18.	I took additional precautions for my personal safety.	Feeling of threat	1.46	1.35	1.25
19.	I felt threatened or followed.	Feeling of threat	1.25	1.21	1.11
20.	I had trouble falling asleep or woke up more often than I do normally.	Hyperarousal	1.92	2.00	1.76
21.	I was jumpy.	Feeling of threat	1.46	1.43	1.36
22.	I had trouble concentrating.	Hyperarousal	1.83	1.81	1.53
23.	I was on edge.	Hyperarousal	2.07	2.06	1.84
24.	We had conflicts and arguments in my team.	Hyperarousal	1.79	1.90	1.51
25.	I was less interested in sex or enjoyed it less.	Hyperarousal	1.95	1.78	1.74
26.	Due to my job stress I drank more alcohol or took more drugs.	General	1.45	1.39	1.40
27.	I was afflicted by thoughts or visual imaginations of assaults against me or people I love.	Feeling of threat	1.39	1.40	1.23
28.	My health was impaired, i.e., by headaches, nausea, infections.	Hyperarousal	1.91	1.75	1.68
29.	I recalled or dreamt of my own trauma history more often than normally.	Intrusions sleep	1.69	1.53	1.59
30.	I experienced myself as being depressed.	Neg cog and mood	1.80	1.66	1.58
31.	I thought about suicide.	Neg cog and mood	1.09	1.11	1.01

Table 2 Characteristics of the three samples of therapists and counselors

	Sample 1 n=371	Sample 2 n=196	Sample 3 n=80
	Counselors and psychotherapists	Refugee counselors	Psychotherapists
	Mean (SD)	Mean (SD)	Mean (SD)	Sig. test	Post-hoc
Age (years)	48.33 (SD = 8.81)	43.91 (SD = 10.15)	52.53 (SD = 7.33)	F=28.973p<0.001	1–2**, 2–3**, 1–3**
Gender (female)	309 (83.3%)	150 (76.5%)	64 (80.0%)	χ^2 =3.821p≤0.148	1–2*
Country
Germany	357 (96.2%)	196 (100%)	70 (87.5%)	χ^2 =33.211p<0.001
Austria	7 (1.8%)	–	2 (2.5%)
Switzerland	6 (1.6%)	–	8 (10.0%)
Others	1 (0.3%)	–	–
Work experience (years)	17.19 (SD = 9.52)	11.39 (SD = 7.48)	21.20 (SD = 8.23)	F=44.107p<0.001	1–2**, 2–3**, 1–3**
Psychotherapy training (%)	88.7	19.4	100	χ^2=303.138p<0.001	1–2**, 2–3**
Trauma training (%)	66.0	15.8	63.8	χ^2=135.772p<0.001	1–2**, 2–3**
Average percentage of traumatized clients (%)	50.97 (SD = 29.25)	39.03 (SD = 29.86)	27.84 (SD = 19.03)	F=26.988p<0.001	1–2**, 2–3*, 1–3**
Current percentage of traumatized clients (%)	50.38 (SD = 31.69)	n/a	26.43 (SD = 21.671)	F=41.474p<0.001	1–3*
Percentage of clients victimized <18 years (%)	49.24 (SD = 32.76)	n/a	25.95 (SD = 22.47)	F=36.680p<0.001	1–3*
Supervision (%)	74.9	55.6	66.3	χ^2=22.131p<0.001	1–2*
FST total score	51.08 (14.95)	54.14 (15.42)	46.10 (11.49)	F=8.484p≤0.001	2–3**, 1–3**

Note: *p <.05 and **p <.001.

Table 3 FST rotated factor loadings – sample 1 counselors and psychotherapists. Highest factor loading per item in bold

	Component
Item	1Neg cog and mood/hyperar	2Intrusions/active avoidance	3Feelings of threat	4Intrusions sleep/active avoidance	5	6
1.	0.103	0.671	0.166	0.065	0.085	0.004
2.	0.107	0.714	0.150	0.167	0.115	0.182
3.	0.161	0.503	0.233	0.206	0.107	0.461
4.	0.135	0.259	0.171	0.133	0.095	0.666
5.	0.088	0.227	0.650	0.114	−0.010	0.120
6.	0.183	0.290	0.194	0.569	0.109	0.022
7.	0.163	0.044	0.102	0.792	−0.047	0.084
8.	0.014	0.117	0.087	0.756	0.022	0.055
9.	0.316	0.711	0.139	0.168	0.067	0.091
10.	0.286	0.664	0.146	0.126	0.120	0.197
11.	0.196	0.707	0.172	0.100	0.006	−0.018
12.	0.195	0.220	0.258	0.469	0.116	0.120
13.	0.659	0.114	0.159	0.234	0.154	0.326
14.	0.800	0.067	0.191	0.075	0.014	0.229
15.	0.769	0.136	0.109	0.042	0.045	0.150
16.	0.803	0.185	0.215	0.070	0.058	0.145
17.	0.241	0.158	0.767	0.108	0.083	−0.025
18.	0.154	0.104	0.797	0.107	0.202	−0.046
19.	0.167	0.131	0.737	0.169	0.080	0.082
20.	0.455	0.223	0.180	0.181	0.456	−0.097
21.	0.364	0.160	0.456	0.065	0.335	0.098
22.	0.644	0.177	0.188	0.219	0.318	−0.047
23.	0.640	0.281	0.228	0.120	0.196	−0.213
24.	0.402	0.249	0.249	0.341	0.158	−0.288
25.	0.645	0.330	0.100	0.117	0.003	−0.201
26.	0.170	0.233	0.141	−0.065	0.669	−0.080
27.	0.219	0.255	0.513	0.152	−0.051	0.274
28.	0.421	0.376	0.190	0.221	0.263	−0.127
29.	0.359	0.144	0.373	0.296	0.145	0.240
30.	0.631	0.213	0.148	0.076	0.345	0.117
31.	0.151	−0.065	0.042	0.119	0.725	0.351

Table 4 FST rotated factor loadings – sample 2 refugee counselors, lifetime version. Highest factor loading per item in bold

	Component
Item	1Neg cog and mood/hyperar	2Feelings of threat/active avoidance	3Intrusions	4Mixed/active avoidance	5Intrusions sleep	6
1.	0.277	−0.067	0.749	0.128	0.117	−0.050
2.	0.173	−0.051	0.799	0.099	0.225	0.093
3.	0.039	0.303	0.773	0.037	0.022	0.105
4.	−0.017	0.381	0.610	0.099	0.006	0.298
5.	−0.049	0.691	0.278	0.256	0.142	0.100
6.	0.156	0.194	0.482	0.321	0.428	0.009
7.	0.156	0.236	0.279	0.030	0.680	0.131
8.	0.062	0.243	0.112	0.065	0.817	0.076
9.	0.291	0.043	0.479	0.552	0.160	0.085
10.	0.246	0.278	0.343	0.566	0.146	−0.095
11.	0.255	0.250	0.381	0.501	−0.049	−0.038
12.	0.292	0.426	0.055	0.159	0.281	0.084
13.	0.624	0.303	0.134	0.082	0.117	0.126
14.	0.793	0.188	0.092	0.240	0.128	0.137
15.	0.706	0.312	0.171	0.219	0.060	0.030
16.	0.778	0.125	0.184	0.242	0.088	0.229
17.	0.155	0.666	0.125	0.254	0.238	0.154
18.	0.348	0.666	−0.067	0.136	0.183	0.165
19.	0.330	0.621	−0.016	0.081	0.407	−0.032
20.	0.552	0.011	0.261	0.277	0.343	0.175
21.	0.472	0.443	0.049	0.152	0.375	0.316
22.	0.602	0.108	0.132	0.406	0.294	0.224
23.	0.399	0.202	0.095	0.649	0.148	0.158
24.	0.175	0.159	−0.040	0.628	0.018	0.373
25.	0.639	0.142	0.116	0.255	0.073	0.364
26.	0.456	0.135	0.121	−0.015	−0.088	0.456
27.	0.357	0.583	0.271	−0.072	−0.014	0.115
28.	0.350	0.033	0.070	0.441	0.081	0.499
29.	0.211	0.231	0.004	0.147	0.483	0.525
30.	0.445	0.127	0.069	0.285	0.243	0.623
31.	0.141	0.109	0.120	0.026	0.096	0.764