Validation of a short patient-reported compassion measure: the Sinclair Compassion Questionnaire-Short Form (SCQ-SF)

The criticality of compassion in healthcare is recogniszed by governments, healthcare organisations, providers, researchers and most importantly patients. There have been calls for the development and evaluation of tools for the routine measurement of compassion, as compassion has been found to be a critical predictor of quality care. However, there has been a paucity of validated and reliable psychometrics to assess this construct.

We assessed the reliability, factor structure and validity of the Sinclair Compassion Questionnaire-Short Form (SCQ-SF).

The SCQ-SF was embedded in a large administration survey (N=2236) aimed at assessing Canadians in facility-based continuing care contexts. Reliability analysis and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) were conducted on the SCQ-SF data.

Data from 2236 residents were analysed. Cronbach's alpha (α =0.91) indicated that the SCQ-Short had excellent reliability. CFA indicated a well-fitting unidimensional model of compassion. The standardised factor loadings for the 5-items ranged between 0.76 and 0.87. Global indicators of fit were largely excellent (root-mean-squared residuals = 0.06, comparative fit index <0.99, standardised root-mean squared residual = 0.01, χ2 =35.66, p<0.001).

The SCQ-SF is a short psychometric tool, with excellent internal consistency, strong factor loadings and good fit. The SCQ-SF is suitable for use by clinicians, researchers and health system analysts.