The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 44, No. 1 - 15

The Development and Validation of the Secondary Trauma in Resident Assistants Scale

and protocols for responding to sexual assault
(Grosz, 2008; Reingle et al., 2010; Thombs et
al., 2015). Even before the advent of today's collegiate trauma epidemics, Conlogue (1993) reported that RAs perceived crisis management
and campus resource referrals as the two most
important aspects of their positions. Interestingly, the same study found that RAs gained
the most personal satisfaction from their role
as peer counselor and crisis interventionist.
Despite more than four decades of studies
listing crisis intervention and peer counseling
as aspects of the RA portfolio, few studies have
explored how such responsibility impacts the
mental health of these students, who are often
traditional-age undergraduates themselves.
Past decades of research have explored
the impact of job responsibilities on RAs but
have centered mainly on factors attributed to
burnout or job attrition (Deluga & Winters,
1990; Gardner, 1987; Paladino, Murray,
Newgent, & Gohn, 2005). Three consistent
factors in these studies included workload,
gender, and inadequate training. Recently,
Owens (2011) extended this area of investigation by exploring the psychological impact of
crisis management on undergraduate RAs
through an in-depth phenomenological study
illustrating the lived experiences of these
student leaders. His study uncovered themes
related to the impact of training programs, the
role of the Internet in contemporary peer counseling, protective factors, and the experience of
emotion. Although this study provided an excellent introduction to the lived experiences of
RAs through their role as crisis interventionists and peer counselors, the sample size and
methodology did not lend to information that
may be generalizable to the larger population

of resident assistants.
The present study builds on the work of
Owens (2011), as well as that of Bride et al.
(2004), by quantitatively exploring the concept
of secondary traumatic stress in U.S. college
resident assistants. In the sections that follow,
I have described the process of developing the
instrument, results related to the validity and
reliability of the instrument, and its potential
use for scholars and practitioners.

INSTRUMENT DEVELOPMENT
The instrument was inspired by the Secondary
Traumatic Stress Scale developed by Bride et al.
(2004). Their scale primarily focused on professionals within the field of social work and
was theoretically based on information from
the DSM-IV; therefore, it was prudent to adapt
the scale to fit an undergraduate population of
U.S. resident assistants using criteria from the
updated DSM-V. This scale was also developed
as a parallel study seeking to develop a scale
to measure secondary traumatic stress in U.S.
college student affairs professionals (Lynch &
Glass, 2017).
Development of the instrument began
with personal narratives gathered from former
RAs who have supported residents through
a variety of traumas. Behaviors and dispositions were extrapolated from the narratives
that were consistent with secondary traumatic
stress symptomologies identified within the
DSM-V and developed as items for the initial
instrument. These items were then reviewed
for content validity by a panel of 15 individuals
representing higher education scholars, resident directors, former RAs, and other leaders
within college housing and residence life.

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The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 44, No. 1

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 44, No. 1