Assessing vicarious traumatization is tricky business — especially as defined in Risking Connection and by the founders of the VT concept. No one instrument currently exists to measure this complicated concept which, parallel to trauma’s effects on clients, shows up in the treatment providers’ beliefs, self capacities, emotions, trauma symptoms, and sense of spirituality.
There is a tool, however, that measures a related construct, the professional quality of life for people in helping professions. It was developed by Beth Stamm Ph.D. and colleagues at the Idaho State University and is called the ProQOL or Professional Quality of Life Scale. It is a 30-item measure that takes about 5 minutes to complete and is free to use (www.proqol.org). We are now using it as a measure in our RC trainee evaluation research.
Click here to read more about the ProQOL.
