Examining psychometric properties and measurement invariance of a Chinese version of the Self-Compassion Scale - Short Form (SCS-SF) in nursing students and medical workers

Runtang Meng; Yong Yu; Shouxia Chai; Xiangyu Luo; Boxiong Gong; Bing Liu; Ying Hu; Yi Luo; Chuanhua Yu

doi:10.2147/PRBM.S216411

Examining psychometric properties and measurement invariance of a Chinese version of the Self-Compassion Scale - Short Form (SCS-SF) in nursing students and medical workers

Psychol Res Behav Manag. 2019 Aug 30:12:793-809. doi: 10.2147/PRBM.S216411. eCollection 2019.

Authors

Runtang Meng^#^{1

2}, Yong Yu^#^{2

3}, Shouxia Chai^#⁴, Xiangyu Luo⁵, Boxiong Gong⁶, Bing Liu^{2

3}, Ying Hu^{1

7}, Yi Luo⁸, Chuanhua Yu^{1

7}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Preventive Medicine, School of Health Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430071, People's Republic of China.
² Centre of Health Administration and Development Studies, Hubei University of Medicine, Shiyan 442000, People's Republic of China.
³ School of Public Health and Management, Hubei University of Medicine, Shiyan 442000, People's Republic of China.
⁴ School of Nursing, Hubei University of Medicine, Shiyan 442000, People's Republic of China.
⁵ Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Taihe Hospital, Hubei University of Medicine, Shiyan 442000, People's Republic of China.
⁶ Department of Oncology, Taihe Hospital, Hubei University of Medicine, Shiyan 442000, People's Republic of China.
⁷ Global Health Institute, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, People's Republic of China.
⁸ School of Nursing, Ningbo College of Health Sciences, Ningbo 315100, People's Republic of China.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Background: Self-compassion has been regarded as a key psychological construct and a protective factor of mental health status. The focus of the present study was to adapt the Self-Compassion Scale (SCS) into Chinese, assess the validity and reliability of the measure and test measurement invariance (MI) across nursing students and medical workers.

Methods: The current study assessed the psychometric properties and invariance of the SCS-Short Form (SCS-SF) in two samples of 2676 from nursing students and medical workers. For construct validity, confirmatory and exploratory factor analyses (CFAs and EFAs) were conducted. Using Perceived Stress Questionnaire , Short Form-8 Health Survey (SF-8) and Goldberg Anxiety and Depression Scale, we evaluated concurrent validity and convergent/divergent validity. For reliability, internal consistency and test-retest analysis were employed. Multi-group analyses were conducted to examine MI of the different SCS-models across populations.

Results: CFA showed that the proposed six-factor second-order model could not be replicated and the six-factor first-order model was a reasonable to mediocre fitting model in both samples. EFA supported a three-factor structure which consisted of one positive and two negative factors. CFA confirmed that the hypothesized three-factor structure with 10 items ultimately was considered as the optimal model on the fitted results. The SCS-SF-10 (10 items form) also demonstrated acceptable internal consistency and test-retest reliability, as well as strong concurrent validity with measures of stress perception, health status, anxious and depressive symptoms. Convergent/divergent validity was not satisfactory. Multi-group CFAs provided support for the validity of the established models.

Conclusion: The Chinese version of the SCS-SF-10 has sound psychometric properties and can be applied to efficiently assess self-compassion in Chinese-speaking populations. The current study contributes to the identification and measurement of self-compassion after adversities.

Keywords: Chinese; measurement invariance; medical workers; nursing students; psychometric assessment; self-compassion.