A psychometric study of the Compassionate Love Scale for Humanity Short version (CLS-H-SF) within a paramedicine student cohort

Introduction: There is a lack of research on compassion within paramedicine practice despite it being a fundamental component of healthcare. Existing studies have focussed primarily on the related concept of empathy. Additionally, the concept of common humanity has been suggested as a core component of compassion, and it informs the assessment scale utilised in the present study.Methods: An Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) was performed on the 9-item Compassionate Love Scale for Humanity (CLS-H-SF), using a convenience sample of paramedicine students from an Australian university.Results: A total of 225 students completed the study (55% response rate). EFA of the CLS-H-SF supported a one factor solution with all items being retained and accounted for 53.26% of the total explained variance. The Cronbach alpha coefficient for the 9-items was alpha .909 indicating excellent internal consistency.Discussion: Factor analysis supported results from a previous psychometric examination of the CLS-H-SF, indicating that the scale shows strong psychometric properties. The literature has also reported other abridged versions of the original 21-item scale; however, these have not been tested within a paramedicine cohort.Conclusion: This evaluation suggests that the CLS-H-SF demonstrates robust psychometric characteristics when used in an Australian paramedic student cohort. Although further examination is warranted, it appears that the CLS-H-SF may be a valuable tool to examine compassion within paramedicine students.

Automated summary

Despite being a fundamental component of healthcare, there is a lack of research on compassion within paramedicine practice. Existing studies have primarily focused on the concept of empathy. This study conducted an exploratory factor analysis on a compassionate love scale for humanity among paramedicine students in an Australian university, and the results showed that the scale demonstrated robust psychometric characteristics in this cohort, suggesting its value in examining compassion within paramedicine students.