Development and evaluation of psychometric properties of Compassion Fatigue Questionnaire in mothers of children with special needs

Past research has shown that compassion fatigue is seen in parents of children with special needs. however, there is no suitable tool to measure it for this group. The aim of this study was to Development and evaluation the psychometric properties of the Compassion Fatigue Scale in mothers with children with special needs. The research method was descriptive. The study population consisted of all mothers of students with special needs in Arak city in the academic year 1399-1400. 171 mothers who met the inclusion criteria were selected by convenience sampling method. In addition to the Compassion Fatigue Questionnaire, the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (Lovibond and Lovibond, 1995) was used to collect data. Pearson correlation coefficient, exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis and Cronbach's alpha were used to analyze the data. The results of exploratory factor analysis and the correlation coefficient of the questionnaire factors with its total score showed that the compassionate fatigue questionnaire has construct validity. Also, the predictive validity of the questionnaire was confirmed (r = 0.61, p <0.001). The retest results confirmed the reliability of the questionnaire (r = 0.70, p = 0.001). The construct validity of the questionnaire was also confirmed by confirmatory factor analysis. Also, the internal consistency of the questionnaire, which was examined with Cronbach's alpha, was desirable (0.78). Therefore, the Compassion Fatigue Questionnaire has sufficient validity and reliability to assess the compassion fatigue of mothers with children with special needs.