The development of the Compassion Satisfaction and Compassion Fatigue scale

BackgroundThere is a high probability of compassion fatigue occurring in helping professionals who work with traumatized clients or patients. Several instruments exist for measuring compassion fatigue, but all of them have methodological flaws. The original Compassion Satisfaction/Fatigue Self-Test...

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Main Authors: Júlia Halamová, Martin Kanovský, Katarina Krizova, Bronislava Šoková, Martina Baránková, Charles Figley
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2024-12-01
Series:Frontiers in Public Health
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Online Access:https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2024.1406467/full
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author Júlia Halamová
Martin Kanovský
Martin Kanovský
Katarina Krizova
Bronislava Šoková
Martina Baránková
Charles Figley
author_facet Júlia Halamová
Martin Kanovský
Martin Kanovský
Katarina Krizova
Bronislava Šoková
Martina Baránková
Charles Figley
author_sort Júlia Halamová
collection DOAJ
description BackgroundThere is a high probability of compassion fatigue occurring in helping professionals who work with traumatized clients or patients. Several instruments exist for measuring compassion fatigue, but all of them have methodological flaws. The original Compassion Satisfaction/Fatigue Self-Test for Helpers is time-consuming and its psychometric properties, including factor structure, have not been supported in the research.MethodsTherefore, the goal of this study was to apply a Mokken scale analysis for polytomous items to shorten the Compassion Satisfaction/Fatigue Self-Test for Helpers and improve its psychometric properties. In addition, we wanted to create norms for the helping professional population. The research sample consisted of 2,320 participants from various helping professions.ResultsTo improve scalability, most of the scale items were removed. The resulting item scalability coefficients ranged from 0.349 to 0.655 and Molenaar–Sijtsma reliability coefficient ranged between 0.75 and 0.87. The final revised and shortened Compassion Satisfaction and Compassion Fatigue scale (CSCFS) consisted of 5 items for the Compassion Satisfaction—Personal Integrity and Happiness subscale, 5 items for the Compassion Satisfaction—Work Competence and Happiness subscale, 9 items for the Compassion Fatigue—Secondary Traumatic Stress subscale, and 7 for the Compassion Fatigue—Burnout subscale. The newly revised subscales have good reliability coefficients.ConclusionThe CSCFS appears to be a valid and reliable instrument for assessing compassion satisfaction and compassion fatigue among helping professionals. More research is required to support its factor structure in a range of settings. We recommend testing usability across different helping professions and cultures.
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spelling doaj-art-e934182b5b094f858047698b822e73a42025-08-20T02:30:48ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Public Health2296-25652024-12-011210.3389/fpubh.2024.14064671406467The development of the Compassion Satisfaction and Compassion Fatigue scaleJúlia Halamová0Martin Kanovský1Martin Kanovský2Katarina Krizova3Bronislava Šoková4Martina Baránková5Charles Figley6Institute of Applied Psychology, Faculty of Social and Economic Sciences, Comenius University in Bratislava, Bratislava, SlovakiaInstitute of Applied Psychology, Faculty of Social and Economic Sciences, Comenius University in Bratislava, Bratislava, SlovakiaInstitute of Social Anthropology, Faculty of Social and Economic Sciences, Comenius University in Bratislava, Bratislava, SlovakiaInstitute of Applied Psychology, Faculty of Social and Economic Sciences, Comenius University in Bratislava, Bratislava, SlovakiaInstitute of Applied Psychology, Faculty of Social and Economic Sciences, Comenius University in Bratislava, Bratislava, SlovakiaInstitute of Applied Psychology, Faculty of Social and Economic Sciences, Comenius University in Bratislava, Bratislava, SlovakiaTraumatology Institute, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, United StatesBackgroundThere is a high probability of compassion fatigue occurring in helping professionals who work with traumatized clients or patients. Several instruments exist for measuring compassion fatigue, but all of them have methodological flaws. The original Compassion Satisfaction/Fatigue Self-Test for Helpers is time-consuming and its psychometric properties, including factor structure, have not been supported in the research.MethodsTherefore, the goal of this study was to apply a Mokken scale analysis for polytomous items to shorten the Compassion Satisfaction/Fatigue Self-Test for Helpers and improve its psychometric properties. In addition, we wanted to create norms for the helping professional population. The research sample consisted of 2,320 participants from various helping professions.ResultsTo improve scalability, most of the scale items were removed. The resulting item scalability coefficients ranged from 0.349 to 0.655 and Molenaar–Sijtsma reliability coefficient ranged between 0.75 and 0.87. The final revised and shortened Compassion Satisfaction and Compassion Fatigue scale (CSCFS) consisted of 5 items for the Compassion Satisfaction—Personal Integrity and Happiness subscale, 5 items for the Compassion Satisfaction—Work Competence and Happiness subscale, 9 items for the Compassion Fatigue—Secondary Traumatic Stress subscale, and 7 for the Compassion Fatigue—Burnout subscale. The newly revised subscales have good reliability coefficients.ConclusionThe CSCFS appears to be a valid and reliable instrument for assessing compassion satisfaction and compassion fatigue among helping professionals. More research is required to support its factor structure in a range of settings. We recommend testing usability across different helping professions and cultures.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2024.1406467/fullcompassion fatiguecompassion satisfactionhelping professionalspsychometricsself-testing
spellingShingle Júlia Halamová
Martin Kanovský
Martin Kanovský
Katarina Krizova
Bronislava Šoková
Martina Baránková
Charles Figley
The development of the Compassion Satisfaction and Compassion Fatigue scale
Frontiers in Public Health
compassion fatigue
compassion satisfaction
helping professionals
psychometrics
self-testing
title The development of the Compassion Satisfaction and Compassion Fatigue scale
title_full The development of the Compassion Satisfaction and Compassion Fatigue scale
title_fullStr The development of the Compassion Satisfaction and Compassion Fatigue scale
title_full_unstemmed The development of the Compassion Satisfaction and Compassion Fatigue scale
title_short The development of the Compassion Satisfaction and Compassion Fatigue scale
title_sort development of the compassion satisfaction and compassion fatigue scale
topic compassion fatigue
compassion satisfaction
helping professionals
psychometrics
self-testing
url https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2024.1406467/full
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