Compassion as a Source of Satisfaction and Fear in Professionals Who Work With People.

BACKGROUND: Compassion satisfaction and fear of compassion affect the mental health of professionals who work with people. In addition, each of these two variables can be important indicators of the quality of the services such professionals provide. METHODS: This study examines compassion as a source of satisfaction and fear among 293 professionals work with people, including 158 teachers, 57 police officers, 45 nurses and 44 imams. A personal information form, the Fear of Compassion Scale, and the Compassion Satisfaction Scale were used as data collection tools. RESULTS: Neither fear of compassion nor compassion satisfaction varied significantly according to the sampled professionals' genders, educational levels, monthly incomes or area of residence. However, both these measures did exhibit statistically significant variation by the respondents' professional roles, ages, numbers of children and marital statuses. A significant negative relationship between the participants' fear of compassion and their compassion satisfaction was also identified. CONCLUSION: Courses related to kindness and social interaction should be provided in schools, to help the adults of the future.

A New Compassion Scale for Children and Its Psychometric Properties.

Based on a quantitative study of 756 children aged 12 to 18, this paper proposes a Compassion Scale for children. Following explanatory and confirmatory factor analysis, the final instrument consisted of 20 items grouped into three dimensions. Its three-factor structure explained 51.84% of the observed variance in the subjects' compassion. The internal consistency coefficient of the Compassion Scale was .89 and the split-half reliability coefficient was .75. As a result of the analysis, it was determined that Compassion Scale is a valid and reliable measurement tool that will be able to use to determine the level of compassion of children between the ages of 12 and 18-year-olds.