Development of a trauma-informed self-care measure with child welfare workers

The purpose of the current study was to revise and test the preliminary trauma-informed self-care (TISC) measure to clarify items, test additional items related to the trauma-informed and self-care literature, confirm the preliminary factors, and to further test the reliability and validity of the revised measure. The sample consisted to 177 child welfare workers who completed paper and pencil surveys. Measures included a revised TISC measure, burnout, secondary traumatic stress, compassion satisfaction, psychological well-being, and organizational supports and resources. Results indicated a three factor 10-item TISC-R measure with the following subscales: Utilizing Organizational Resources, Organizational Practices, and Professional Self-Care. Overall reliability was good (0.84) with reliability coefficients for subscales ranging from 0.68 to 0.88. As expected, the TISC-R measure was negatively associated with burnout and secondary traumatic stress, and positively associated with compassion satisfaction, psychological well-being, and organizational resources provided. The brief TISC-R measure may be a practical tool that child welfare case managers and supervisors could use to assess, monitor and improve trauma-informed self-care practices to help workers who often face high stress environments. Future research on the utility of the measure with child welfare workers and other helping professions who work with traumatized individuals is needed.