Psychometric characteristics of the Hebrew Version of the Professional Quality of Life (ProQol) Scale

Abstract Context Exposure to human suffering may have ramifications for the professional quality of life (ProQol) of palliative care teams. The ProQol scale was designed to assess both negative and positive work-related outcomes, and has been used recently for the evaluation of work-related outcomes among palliative care workers. However, the assessment of ProQol among Israeli hospice workers is scant. Objectives Assessment of the psychometric properties and the factor structure of the Hebrew version of the 30-item ProQol questionnaire. Methods The study population included 1,100 healthcare providers including physicians, nurses, and social workers in primary healthcare and palliative care settings. Result A total of 380 workers participated in the study, representing a response rate of 34.5%. The confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) did not show an adequate “goodness-to-fit.” Using a factor coefficient of 0.35 or greater for inclusion, the exploratory factor analysis (EFA) revealed a 23-item solution, loaded onto three factors: compassion satisfaction (CS), secondary traumatic stress (STS) and burnout (BU). The internal consistency subscales were 0.87, 0.82 and 0.69, respectively. The subscales showed good convergent and exploratory validity due to significant correlations with measures that examine burnout, work engagement and peritraumatic dissociative experiences. Conclusions Although the findings are consistent with those from studies in other languages, they are different from the original 30-item three-factor structure reported by Stamm. The Hebrew version of the CS subscale was found to be reliable and valid for studies among healthcare professionals, but further research is needed to improve the BU and STS subscales.