Abstract

Introduction: Compassion constitutes a central element of all health and social care professions. The Professional Quality of Life Questionnaire is the most widely used instrument to measure compassion fatigue worldwide. Aim: The aim of this study was to culturally adapt the ProQOL V for Greece. Method: Forward-translations and back-translations were conducted by two bilingual translators (English-Greek) grown up in English speaking countries (USA, Australia) while cross-cultural adaptation followed strictly the recent WHO guidelines. Results: A five-member expert-panel convened by the first author in order to identify and discuss inadequate expressions/concepts of the forward/backward translation resolved all discrepancies and reached consensus after two panel meetings. Overall, 90.0% of participants considered the instrument very good or good, and items were found relevant, easy to understand and with appropriate alternative answer categories for the three dimensions of CF. Conclusion: High quality self-report measures are necessary in evidence-based health and social care research and practice. Participants in a pre-test of the latest cross-culturally adapted version of ProQOL V verified the readability, comprehensibility and suitability of the instruments’ items. After completion of the validation of the ProQOL V, it will become available to Greek researchers.

Key words: Professional Quality of Life Scale, Secondary traumatic stress, Compassion fatigue, Compassion Satisfaction, Emotional work.