/  Assessment Tools

Fears of Compassion Scales

(FCS)

Research Group
CBPI
Contacts Marcela Salomé Albuquerque Andrade de Matos

TITLE OF THE PORTUGUESE VERSION

Escalas dos Medos da Compaixão

ORIGINAL VERSION

Gilbert, P., McEwan, K., Matos, M., & Rivis, A. (2011)

PORTUGUESE VERSION

Matos, M., Pinto-Gouveia, J., Duarte, J., & Simões (2011)

GENERAL DESCRIPTION

The Fears of Compassion Scales comprises three scales measuring: Fears of expressing compassion for others (10 items, 9 in the Portuguese version; “Being too compassionate makes people soft and easy to take advantage of”); Fears of receiving compassion from others (13 items; “I try to keep my distance from others even if I know they are kind”); and Fears of compassion for self (15 items; “I worry that if I start to develop compassion for myself I will become dependent on it”). Respondents are asked to rate on a Likert scale how much they agree with each item statement (0 = Don’t agree at all, to 4 = Completely agree).In the original and the Portuguese version studies, the Cronbach’s alphas were .72/.88 for fears expressing compassion for others, .80/.91 for fears of receiving compassion from others, and .83/.94 for fears in giving compassion to self, respectively.

REFERENCES

  • Gilbert, P., McEwan, K., Matos, M., & Rivis, A. (2011). Fears of compassion: Development of three self-report measures. Psychology and Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice, 84, 239-255. doi:10.1348/147608310X526511

  • Simões, D. (2012). Medo da Compaixão: estudo das propriedad​es psicométri​cas da Fears of Compassion Scales (FCS) e estudo da sua relação com medidas de Vergonha, Compaixão e Psicopatol​ogia. Dissertação de Mestrado apresentada à Faculdade de Psicologia e Ciências da Educação da Universidade de Coimbra.

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