Compassion assessment instruments in palliative care: a scoping review

Compassion is often described in literature as an indication of quality of care, and it is imperative in the healthcare context, more specifically in the practice of palliative care. This scoping review aimed to identify assessment tools for compassion available in the context of palliative care and describe the psychometric characteristics of the identified assessment tools.

A Systematic Review of Literature, a Scoping review. A search was performed in PubMed, CINAHL, MedicLatina, Scopus, Web of Science, and PsycARTICLES computerized databases on March 9, 2022. The participants included were adults, the concept considered was "compassion assessment instruments," and all studies conducted in the context of palliative care were considered. The protocol was obtained from The Joanna Briggs Institute.

A total of 1371 publications were identified. Of these, only five fulfilled the inclusion criteria. The information was collated in tabular form. Of the five publications selected, only one comprised the original development of the scale, where the other four included studies on palliative care, where the scales were used. It was possible to obtain the original publications in which the scales were developed. Therefore, five instruments for assessing compassion in palliative care were identified: "Patient Assessment of Physician Compassion"; "Sinclair Compassion Questionnaire"; "Compassion from Others Scale"; "Santa Clara Brief Compassion Scale"; "Compassion Scale".

Only one compassion assessment scale has been developed for palliative care. In addition, of the other four instruments, only one was developed in the healthcare context. This research also indicates that the assessment of compassion in palliative care is recent. The only instrument developed in the context of palliative care was created in 2021, and the first article to describe the assessment of compassion in palliative care was developed in 2018. It also concluded that the assessment of compassion in the field is important, whether from the perspective of the patient or from the perspective of the professional. The instruments have good or excellent internal consistency.