Development and Evaluation of a Screening Scale for Indirect Trauma Caused by Media Exposure to Social Disasters

Eun Young Choi, Seung-Hye Choi and Haeyoung Lee
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Eun Young Choi: Department of Nursing, Graduate School of Chung-Ang University, Seoul 06974, Korea
Seung-Hye Choi: College of Nursing, Gachon University, Incheon 21936, Korea
Haeyoung Lee: Red Cross College of Nursing, Chung-Ang University, Seoul 06974, Korea

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 2, 1-17

Abstract: As a result of mass media development, disaster-related information, such as the severity of damage, can be easily shared; thus, the issue of consequent indirect trauma has become as important as that of direct trauma. This study developed a scale to measure the degree of indirect trauma caused by media exposure to social disasters and then verified this scale’s reliability and validity. Initial items were developed through a literature review; 39 items were selected by examining their content validity and conducting a pretest. To verify the scale’s validity and reliability, exploratory factor analyses were conducted, and Cronbach’s alpha coefficients were calculated. The explanatory power of the screening scale developed through this study was 62.2%. The scale was ultimately composed of three factors comprising 24 items. Through exploratory factor analyses, factors were identified as “psychological, physical, and behavioral responses to social disasters” (factor 1), “moral resentment due to social disasters” (factor 2), and “a sense of threat to life due to social disasters” (factor 3). Regarding internal reliability, Cronbach’s alpha values ranged between 0.85 and 0.96. Future studies with expanded participant populations are suggested, which could further verify the scale’s validity and reliability and complement its shortcomings.

Keywords: social disaster; indirect trauma; indirect victims; PTSD; media (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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