Development of a scale for assessing media-induced secondary trauma in the civilian population during wartime: psychometric validation

Abstract

The relevance of this study stems from the lack of valid psychodiagnostic tools for assessing manifestations of media-induced secondary trauma amongst the civilian population in the context of a full-scale war. Unlike classical models of secondary traumatic stress, which are primarily focused on support staff or those who interact directly with victims, the modern information landscape creates conditions for the development of traumatic reactions among broad sections of the population as a result of the regular consumption of war-related media content.
The aim of the study was to develop and provide psychometric validation for an original methodology for diagnosing secondary media-induced trauma in the general population. The questionnaire was developed by integrating the theoretical principles of the international psychodiagnostic instruments: the Secondary Traumatic Stress Scale (STSS), the Secondary Traumatic Stress Scale for Social Media Users (STSSSM) and the Earthquake Related Media Content and Secondary Traumatic Stress Scale (EMC-STS), whilst taking into account the specific nature of the information landscape during the full-scale war in Ukraine. The initial version of the instrument comprised 22 statements. A total of 361 respondents aged between 18 and 66 took part in the study. The psychometric validation involved an expert assessment of the content of the statements, exploratory factor analysis using the principal axis method with Promax oblique rotation, and an assessment of the discriminant validity of the items and the internal consistency of the scales. Based on the results of the psychometric analysis, the final version of the instrument was reduced to 17 statements, forming four scales: ‘Empathic Identification with Victims’, ‘Psycho-emotional Exhaustion’, ‘Hyperarousal’ and ‘Intrusive Psychophysiological Reactions’. The proposed factor structure explains 52.7% of the total variance, and the factor loadings confirm the conceptual coherence of the identified components. The discriminant coefficients for all items ranged from 0.71 to 0.97, indicating their high ability to differentiate between respondents according to the level of expression of the construct under study. Cronbach’s α coefficients for the individual scales ranged from 0.774 to 0.825, and for the overall scale stood at 0.911, confirming the high level of internal consistency of the methodology. The results obtained indicate that the developed questionnaire possesses adequate psychometric characteristics and can be used to assess manifestations of media-induced secondary traumatisation among the civilian population in wartime conditions.