Psychometric Properties of the Secondary Traumatic Stress–Informed Organizational Assessment Ginny Sprang University of Kentucky Leslie Ross Children’s Institute, Inc., Los Angeles, California Brian C. Miller Primary Children’s Hospital, Salt Lake City, Utah Kimberly Blackshear Duke University Sarah Ascienzo University of Kentucky This article describes the development and psychometric properties of the Secondary Traumatic Stress Informed Organizational Assessment (STSI-OA), a 40-item instrument designed 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. A sample of 629 respondents representing multiple systems of care, job roles, and functions completed the STSI-OA. Analyses revealed a 5 factor structure that explained a large proportion of variance, excellent internal consistency, good test–retest reliability, and concurrent criterion validity with the Trauma System Readiness Tool Vicarious Trauma domain. Quartile scores and means were calculated to allow for comparisons. Based on the results of this analysis, it appears the STSI-OA total and domain scores can be used to create a blueprint for organizational learning, and to reliably track progress toward desired change over time. Keywords: organizational assessment, secondary traumatic stress, secondary traumatic stress–informed organizational assessment, STSI-OA Organizations as varied as hospitals, child welfare agencies, community mental health centers, domestic violence shelters, or refugee centers ask their clinical providers to work with persons who have experienced trauma. For many workers employed by these organizations it is a routine part of their daily duties to bear witness to recounted stories of tragedy, abuse, and even torture (Lambert, Engh, Hasbun, & Holzer, 2012). There is ample empir- ical evidence that employees who provide services to traumatized populations are at increased risk of experiencing symptoms of secondary trauma stress (Brady, Guy, Poelstra, & Brokaw, 1999; Bride, 2007; Cieslak et al., 2014; Follette, Polusny, & Milbeck, 1994; Ghahramanlou & Brodbeck, 2000). Secondary Traumatic Stress includes symptoms that are similar to posttraumatic stress symptoms (intrusive symptoms, avoidance, reex- periencing, alternations in cognitions and mood), and is caused by indirect (vs. direct) exposure to the traumatic experiences of another person (Figley, 1995). The prevalence of secondary traumatic stress in clinicians ranges from 15% to over 50%, depending on setting, amount of trauma exposure, and a variety of personal and occupa- tional factors (Adams & Riggs, 2008; Bride, 2007; Bride, Hatcher, & Humble, 2009; Bride, Jones, & MacMaster, 2007; Dominguez- Gomez & Rutledge, 2009; Quinal, Harford, & Rutledge, 2009; Smith Hatcher, Bride, OH, Moultrie King, & Franklin Catrett, 2011). At the very heart of secondary traumatic stress is psychological distress, which can range from a reduced sense of well-being to Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). It is proposed that the effects of secondary traumatic stress can be mediated (Miller & Sprang, 2016), although the best approach to reduce these effects has yet to be demonstrated. Self-care approaches (e.g., healthy eating, work-life balance, meditation) have typically been promoted as possible remedies to the impact of indirect trauma exposure (Stamm, 1995). Yet self-care approaches have yet to be validated as effective in reducing secondary trau- matic stress (Bober & Regehr, 2006). Additionally, there is a growing recognition that the emphasis on self-care places all of the responsibility upon the professional, and not upon the organization or work that placed them in “harm’s way.” Ginny Sprang, College of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, and Center on Trauma and Children, University of Kentucky; Leslie Ross, Children’s Institute, Inc., Los Angeles, California; Brian C. Miller, Primary Children’s Hospital, Salt Lake City, Utah; Kimberly Blackshear, National Center for Child Traumatic Stress, Duke University; Sarah Ascienzo, Center on Trauma and Children, University of Kentucky. Special thanks to all the members of the initial STSI-OA workgroup: Ginny Sprang, Leslie Ross, Kimberly Blackshear, Brian Miller, Cynthia Vrabel, Jacob Ham, Jim Henry, and James Caringi, the members of the NCTSN’s STS Collaborative Group, and expert reviewers for their assis- tance with the development and field testing of the STSI-OA. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Ginny Sprang, Center on Trauma and Children, University of Kentucky, 3470 Blazer Parkway, Suite 100, Lexington, KY 40506-0027. E-mail: sprang@ uky.edu THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CORRECTED. SEE LAST PAGE This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers. This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly. Traumatology © 2016 American Psychological Association http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/trm0000108 1085-9373/16/$12.00 1