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Fears of Compassion Scales (FCS)

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. http://hdl.handle.net/10316/23280

Contacts

Marcela Matos – marcela.s.matos@gmail.com