Development and Validation of the Brief Sussex-Oxford Compassion Scales

Compassion for self or others involves recognizing suffering, understanding its universality, feeling for the person suffering, tolerating distress, and being motivated to help. Existing measures, such as the Sussex-Oxford Compassion Scales for the Self (SOCS-S) and Others (SOCS-O), are comprehensive but lengthy. This study derived 5-item short forms of each scale (Brief SOCS-S and Brief SOCS-O) based on the original SOCS item loadings and theoretical representation of the five compassion components, preserving construct coverage while reducing burden. The scales were examined across students (N = 268), the general population (N = 43,999), and NHS staff (N = 1,569). Both measures showed acceptable internal consistency, moderate-to-good test-retest reliability, adequate one-factor structure, and broad support for measurement invariance across gender and age groups in the general population. Some confirmatory factor analysis models showed slightly elevated root mean square error of approximation values, and the Universality item had weaker loadings and ceiling effects in both scales. However, total-score ceiling effects were absent in the Brief SOCS-S and minimal in the Brief SOCS-O. Overall, the Brief SOCS scales provide concise, theoretically grounded, and psychometrically adequate assessments of compassion when brevity and reduced respondent burden are priorities.