Professional Quality of Life Scale – Chinese Version

Description

The term “compassion fatigue” was first used by Joinson in an article about nurse burnout, describing the negative behaviors exhibited by nurses, such as feeling sad, helpless, and hopeless after the death of a patient. Chase elaborated on compassion fatigue as a specific form of burnout. In numerous studies by scholars, the concept of compassion fatigue is often conflated with emotional exhaustion and job burnout. Compassion fatigue refers to the reduction of energy or interest in helpers due to empathetic involvement or the burden of bearing the pain of those they assist. It is a behavioral and emotional outcome that naturally arises from understanding the traumatic experiences or encounters of individuals (Stamm, 2010). Compassion fatigue consists of three components: compassion satisfaction, secondary trauma, and professional burnout.

Authors and Contact Email

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Purpose

The purpose of measuring compassion fatigue is to evaluate the effects experienced by front-line social workers when providing services to others.

Test Year

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Administration Method and Scoring

The Professional Quality of Life Scale (ProQOL) is widely used in academia to measure compassion fatigue. It consists of two parts: a positive section (Compassion Satisfaction Subscale) and a negative section (Secondary Trauma Subscale and Burnout Subscale). Respondents are required to answer based on their experiences over the past month (Ye Liqing, 2018). A higher score on the Compassion Satisfaction Subscale indicates greater satisfaction in work, while higher scores on the Professional Burnout and Secondary Trauma Subscales indicate more severe levels of compassion fatigue.

Reliability and Validity

To verify the reliability of this questionnaire, researchers conducted reliability tests on the three subscales in the second part of ProQOL. Analysis results revealed that the scores of the three subscales roughly follow a normal distribution. According to Kline’s evaluation criteria, a Cronbach’s alpha (α) greater than 0.70 is considered acceptable, while values above 0.80 are considered good. The α coefficients for these three subscales were found to be 0.928, 0.840, and 0.787, respectively, with half-split reliability coefficients of 0.935, 0.858, and 0.783, all exceeding 0.70. This indicates that each of the three subscales has good internal consistency, affirming that the overall reliability of the ProQOL scale is adequate for further investigation and analysis.

Factors and Subscales

Compassion fatigue includes three aspects: 1. Physical symptoms 2. Psychological symptoms 3. Interpersonal relationship symptoms (Roney, 2010). Physical symptoms include sleep disturbances, excessive dreaming, loss of appetite, and frequent minor ailments, all of which may reduce work quality. Psychological symptoms manifest as feelings of fatigue and helplessness, leading to sadness, depression, anxiety, fear, and loss of confidence in life. In terms of interpersonal relationships, individuals may develop distrust towards others, experience tensions in close relationships, and show avoidance of social situations. Figley categorized the symptoms of compassion fatigue into three types: intrusive symptoms, avoidance symptoms, and hyperarousal symptoms. Intrusiveness refers to the constant recurrence of images of those receiving help, while avoidance symptoms include feelings of fear when interacting with service users, and hyperarousal includes difficulty concentrating and mental scatteredness (Figley, 1995).

Keywords

Compassion Fatigue, Burnout, Compassion Satisfaction, Social Work, ProQOL

Items in Chinese

1. 我是快乐的
2. 我脑中常充满了一个以上我所服务过的人
3. 社工让我得到满足感
4. 我感到与他人(案主、同事、朋友等)有关联
5. 突如其来的声音会让我感到惊吓
6. 与需要我帮助的人一起后，让我感到神采奕奕
7. 我发现要将我的个人生活与社工工作分开是困难的
8. 我因帮助过的某个人的创伤性经历而失眠，所以工作不能富有成效
9. 我想我已经被那些我提供服务的严重创伤患者所影响
10. 从事社工的工作让我感到陷入了困境
11. 因为我的助人行为，让我对很多事情感到紧张
12. 我喜欢从事社工的工作
13. 因为案主的创伤性经历，我感到沮丧
14. 我觉得我仿佛经历了那些曾经服务过的案主遭受的严重创伤
15. 我有信念支持着我
16. 我对自己能够跟上社工技术和社工政策的进步而感到高兴
17. 我就是我想要成为的人
18. 我对自己的工作感到满意
19. 作为一名社工工作者，我感到筋疲力尽
20. 对于那些我帮助的人和我如何帮助他们，我有开心的想法和感觉
21. 由于自己的工作负担似乎无止境，我感到无法应对
22. 我相信通过我的努力工作我会有所作为
23. 我避免某些活动或情况，因为它们让我想起我所服务过的案主的可怕经历
24. 我为自己能够帮助别人而感到自豪
25. 因为我的帮助行为，我有被侵扰和令人恐惧的想法
26. 我觉得“深陷”于制度的沼泽
27. 我认为我是一个成功的社会工作者
28. 我不记得我工作中那些和创伤受害者有关的重要部分
29. 我是一个非常有爱心的人
30. 能够选择从事社工，我感到很高兴

Items in English

1. I am happy.
2. My mind often fills with images of more than one person I have served.
3. Being a social worker gives me a sense of satisfaction.
4. I feel connected to others (clients, colleagues, friends, etc.).
5. Sudden noises startle me.
6. Being with someone who needs my help makes me feel invigorated.
7. I find it difficult to separate my personal life from my work as a social worker.
8. I have difficulty sleeping due to a traumatic experience from someone I’ve helped, so my work is not effective.
9. I think I have been affected by the severe trauma of those I serve.
10. My work as a social worker makes me feel trapped.
11. Because of my helping behavior, I feel nervous about many things.
12. I enjoy being a social worker.
13. I feel depressed due to the traumatic experiences of my clients.
14. I feel as though I have experienced the severe trauma of the clients I have served.
15. I have faith that supports me.
16. I feel happy that I can keep up with advances in social work techniques and policies.
17. I am who I want to be.
18. I am satisfied with my work.
19. As a social worker, I feel exhausted.
20. I have happy thoughts and feelings about the people I help and how I help them.
21. I feel overwhelmed by what seems to be an endless workload.
22. I believe that my hard work will make a difference.
23. I avoid certain activities or situations because they remind me of the terrible experiences of my clients.
24. I feel proud that I am able to help others.
25. Due to my helping behavior, I have intrusive and frightening thoughts.
26. I feel “stuck” in a quagmire of systems.
27. I believe I am a successful social worker.
28. I don’t remember those important parts of my work related to trauma victims.
29. I am a very caring person.
30. I am happy to have chosen social work as a career.

References

Stamm, 2010; Figley, 1995; Roney, 2010; Ye Liqing, 2018.