Compassion Questionnaire towards Others (CQO)

Abstract

The Compassion Questionnaire towards Others (CQO; Khoury, Vergara, Spinelli et al., 2023) was developed in conjunction with the Compassion Questionnaire towards Self (CQS) to operationalize compassion towards others. This operationalization is grounded in affective, cognitive, behavioral, and interpersonal dimensions, with each dimension representing a set of skills amenable to cultivation through training and practice. Item generation involved consultations with a panel of graduate students and a group of field experts. Both positive and negative items were created, designed to reflect the four proposed dimensions, with the aim of ensuring similar structures and items between the CQO and CQS as much as possible. Items were also crafted to be as simple and specific as possible, focusing on a single, distinct emotion, cognition, or behavior. Following content validity analysis, the items were further evaluated for clarity and precision in language. The resulting 36-item measure was subsequently assessed across three studies utilizing samples of Canadian adults. Factor analysis ultimately supported 19 final items distributed across three distinct dimensions. Comprehensive results regarding both reliability and validity were reported.

Keywords

Compassion Towards Others, Thinking and Feeling Compassionately, Connection with Others, Acting Compassionately, Emotional Responses, Prosocial Behavior, Compassion, Social and Interpersonal Measures, Social Connectedness.

Authors

Khoury, Bassam; Vergara, Rodrigo C.; Spinelli, Christina

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Purpose

The CQO aims to assess and operationalize compassion towards others, defining it as a set of affective, cognitive, behavioral, and interpersonal skills and abilities that are independent of mindfulness.

Validity

Construct Validity: The results of the factor analysis provide support for the structural validity of the measure.

Convergent and Discriminant Validity: The findings indicate a medium correlation between the thinking and feeling dimension, a medium-to-low correlation for the interpersonal dimension, and a very weak association for the acting dimension. The CQO demonstrated low or insignificant correlations with symptomatology and exhibited a positive association with emotion regulation and most of the CQO subscales. The CQO subscales showed no significant changes across timepoints. Interestingly, unexpected decreasing trends were observed for the Acting Compassionately (towards others) subscale at follow-up (p = 0.03).

Reliability

Internal Consistency: The internal consistencies for the CQO ranged between 0.86 to 0.92. Specifically for the CQO, the Acting Compassionately subscale consistently presented the lowest internal consistencies (Cronbach’s Alpha: 0.85 and 0.87; Total Omega: 0.85 and 0.87, for the first and second halves of the sample, respectively). Results from the split-half cross-validation procedure with bootstrapping supported a robust structure, indicating adequate to good internal consistencies within the scores of the three subscales.

Factor Analysis

Exploratory and Confirmatory Factor Analysis: In the first half of the sample, the Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) procedure did not necessitate any item removal. The solution yielded a TLI of 0.87, a RMSEA of 0.08, a SRMR of 0.04, and a KMO of 0.87. For the second half of the sample, utilizing Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA), the model presented a CFI of 0.91, a TLI of 0.90, a RMSEA of 0.08, and an SMR of 0.05. Diagnostics proved stable in both halves of the sample, employing both EFA and CFA, and demonstrated adequate fit.

Instrument: Compassion Questionnaire towards Others (CQO)

Test Type: Original
Format: Items are rated on a Likert scale, ranging from 1 (almost never) to 5 (almost always).
Language Available: English
Population Group: Human (Male, Female)
Age Group: Adulthood (18 yrs & older), including Young Adulthood (18-29 yrs), Thirties (30-39 yrs), Middle Age (40-64 yrs), and Aged (65 yrs & older).
Population Details:

• Location: Canada

• Respondents: Adults, University Students
  Test Methodology: Test Validity, Construct Validity, Content Validity, Convergent Validity, Discriminant Validity, Test Reliability, Internal Consistency, Factor Analysis, Confirmatory Factor Analysis, Exploratory Factor Analysis.
  Number of Items: This is a 19-item measure.
  Factors and Subscales:

• Thinking and feeling compassionately

• Connection with others

• Acting compassionately

Keywords

Compassion Towards Others, Thinking and Feeling Compassionately, Connection with Others, Acting Compassionately.

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Authors

Khoury, Bassam

• Affiliation: McGill University, Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology

• Email address: [email protected]

• Correspondence Address: McGill University, Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology, 3700 McTavish Street, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, H3A 1Y2, [email protected]

• Author ORCID Identifier: No data is Available

Vergara, Rodrigo C.

• Affiliation: Universidad San Sebastián, Facultad de Psicología y Humanidades

• Email address: No data is Available

• Correspondence Address: No data is Available

• Author ORCID Identifier: No data is Available

Spinelli, Christina

• Affiliation: McGill University, Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology

• Email address: No data is Available

• Correspondence Address: No data is Available

• Author ORCID Identifier: No data is Available

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

Permissions: Contact Corresponding Author
Fee: No
Test Year: 2023
Commercial: No

References

Khoury, B., Vergara, R. C., & Spinelli, C. (2023). Compassion Questionnaires: Scales development and validation. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 47(6), 1006–1032. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10608-023-10416-2

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Items of the Compassion Questionnaire towards Others (CQO)

Test items are not available in the provided text.