CQSO-20: 20-item Compassion Questionnaires

Background The Compassion Questionnaires for Self and Others (CQSO) were developed to measure compassion as a multifaceted construct encompassing affective, cognitive, behavioral, and interpersonal dimensions. However, the original versions had limitations, including inadequate coverage of underlying concepts, unidirectional item wording, the absence of a global latent variable, and validation conducted only among women. The revised questionnaires (CQSO-R) addressed these issues, resulting in improved theoretical and empirical robustness. Nonetheless, the revised questionnaires contained a large number of items (39 for CQS-R and 33 for CQO-R), which limited their usability in research. This study aimed to address this limitation by developing shortened versions of the questionnaires while preserving their strengths. Methods The revised Compassion Questionnaires (CQSO-R) underwent an iterative process to create shortened versions. A large-scale validation study involving both women and non-women participants was conducted to develop and evaluate the shortened questionnaires. Results The final versions of the shortened questionnaires each comprised 20 items (CQS-20 and CQO-20) with high content and valence balance among items. Psychometric analysis indicated that these shortened versions maintained properties similar to the revised questionnaires in terms of internal consistency, convergent validity, and discriminant validity, while also presenting an invariant factor structure by gender. Conclusions The shortened questionnaires represent a significant reduction in length compared to the revised versions, while maintaining robust psychometric properties. The study findings underscore the theoretical and practical significance of these questionnaires in assessing and cultivating compassion. However, certain limitations warrant consideration, and the implications for research and counselling practice are thoroughly discussed.