TY - JOUR
T1 - Can compassionate healthcare be measured? The Schwartz Center Compassionate Care Scale™
AU - Lown, Beth A.
AU - Muncer, Steven
AU - Chadwick, Raymond
PY - 2015
Y1 - 2015
N2 - Abstract
Objective
Assess psychometric characteristics of an instrument to measure compassionate healthcare.
Methods
We used Cronbach’s alpha to examine scale reliability, exploratory and confirmatory factor
analysis to examine scale structure, and Mokken analysis to determine if items belonged to a
unidimensional scale.
Results
Results indicated that both sets of items had strong reliability when used to rate individual
physicians (Cronbach’s α = .97 and .95). A one factor model was a good fit to both sets of items
(χ2(20) 35.23, p > .01, Tucker Lewis Index (TLI) = .98, Comparative Fit Index (CFI) = .99, Root
Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA) = .04, and χ2(20) 42.28, p > .01, TLI = .96, CFI =
.97, RMSEA = .05. Mokken analysis also supported a unidimensional scale. Both sets of items
correlated strongly with an overall measure of patient satisfaction with physicians.
Conclusions
A unidimensional patient-rated scale reliably measured hospital physicians’ compassion and
correlated significantly with patient satisfaction. Additional testing is required to assess its
validity and reliability for other healthcare professionals and clinical settings.
Practice Implications Measurement of compassionate healthcare is important to patients and healthcare
professionals and should be included in research, educational assessment, and healthcare
quality performance improvement programs
AB - Abstract
Objective
Assess psychometric characteristics of an instrument to measure compassionate healthcare.
Methods
We used Cronbach’s alpha to examine scale reliability, exploratory and confirmatory factor
analysis to examine scale structure, and Mokken analysis to determine if items belonged to a
unidimensional scale.
Results
Results indicated that both sets of items had strong reliability when used to rate individual
physicians (Cronbach’s α = .97 and .95). A one factor model was a good fit to both sets of items
(χ2(20) 35.23, p > .01, Tucker Lewis Index (TLI) = .98, Comparative Fit Index (CFI) = .99, Root
Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA) = .04, and χ2(20) 42.28, p > .01, TLI = .96, CFI =
.97, RMSEA = .05. Mokken analysis also supported a unidimensional scale. Both sets of items
correlated strongly with an overall measure of patient satisfaction with physicians.
Conclusions
A unidimensional patient-rated scale reliably measured hospital physicians’ compassion and
correlated significantly with patient satisfaction. Additional testing is required to assess its
validity and reliability for other healthcare professionals and clinical settings.
Practice Implications Measurement of compassionate healthcare is important to patients and healthcare
professionals and should be included in research, educational assessment, and healthcare
quality performance improvement programs
U2 - 10.1016/j.pec.2015.03.019
DO - 10.1016/j.pec.2015.03.019
M3 - Article
SN - 1873-5134
VL - 98
SP - 1005
EP - 1010
JO - Patient Education and Counseling
JF - Patient Education and Counseling
IS - 8
ER -