Compassion assessment instruments in palliative care: a scoping review

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Quality
• Palliative Care Research
• Psychometrics

Background:

• Compassion is a critical indicator of quality care, especially in palliative care.
• Identifying reliable compassion assessment tools is essential for evaluating and improving patient experiences.

Purpose of the Study:

• To conduct a scoping review to identify compassion assessment tools within palliative care.
• To describe the psychometric properties of the identified compassion assessment instruments.

Main Methods:

• Systematic literature search across multiple databases (PubMed, CINAHL, Scopus, etc.) up to March 2022.
• Inclusion of studies involving adult participants and compassion assessment in palliative care.
• Utilized The Joanna Briggs Institute protocol for the scoping review.

Main Results:

• Five compassion assessment instruments were identified: 'Patient Assessment of Physician Compassion', 'Sinclair Compassion Questionnaire', 'Compassion from Others Scale', 'Santa Clara Brief Compassion Scale', and 'Compassion Scale'.
• Only one instrument was originally developed for palliative care (in 2021); another was developed in a healthcare context.
• The assessment of compassion in palliative care is a recent field, with the earliest relevant article published in 2018.

Conclusions:

• A limited number of validated compassion assessment tools exist specifically for palliative care.
• The development and application of compassion assessment in palliative care are emerging areas of study.
• Identified instruments demonstrate good to excellent internal consistency, supporting their reliability.