The Compassionate Care Assessment Tool (CCAT) is a patient-reported outcome measure designed to evaluate the compassionate care provided by healthcare professionals in acute hospital settings. This article explores the development, validation, and application of the CCAT in measuring compassionate care.
Development and Structure of the CCAT
The CCAT was developed by combining elements from the Spiritual Needs Survey and the Caring Behaviors Inventory. It aims to capture the relationship between patients’ spiritual needs, including compassion, and nurses’ caring behaviors. The initial 40-item tool was refined through pilot testing and expert review to a 28-item instrument. The final CCAT consists of four subscales:
- Meaningful Connection: Focuses on the emotional connection between patient and provider.
- Patient Expectations: Addresses whether the provider met the patient’s expectations for compassionate care.
- Caring Attributes: Assesses the provider’s demonstration of caring qualities.
- Capable Practitioner: Evaluates the provider’s competence and skill in delivering care.
Patients rate the importance of each item on a scale from 1 (not important) to 4 (extremely important).
Validation and Reliability of the CCAT
The CCAT has undergone rigorous validation and reliability testing. Initial psychometric testing involved 250 patients and confirmed the four-factor structure. Subsequent studies, including a Greek translation validation, have supported the tool’s reliability and validity across different cultural contexts. Cronbach’s alpha consistently exceeds 0.80 for the total scale and subscales, indicating strong internal consistency.
Application of the CCAT in Healthcare
The CCAT provides a valuable tool for assessing patient perceptions of compassionate care. It can be used to:
- Evaluate the effectiveness of interventions aimed at enhancing compassionate care.
- Identify areas for improvement in healthcare provider training and practice.
- Track changes in patient-perceived compassionate care over time.
- Facilitate quality improvement initiatives focused on patient-centered care.
The CCAT’s focus on the patient perspective offers unique insights into the delivery of compassionate care.
Comparison with Other Compassion Measures
The CCAT is one of several instruments designed to measure compassion in healthcare. Other measures include:
- Compassion Competence Scale (CCS): Measures compassion competence among nurses.
- Schwartz Center Compassionate Care Scale (SCCCS): Assesses patient perceptions of physician compassion.
- Sussex-Oxford Compassion for Others Scale (SOCS-O): Measures self-reported compassion for others among healthcare providers.
When compared using the EMPRO (Evaluating the Measurement of Patient-Reported Outcomes) instrument, the CCAT demonstrates strong performance in key areas such as conceptual and measurement model, internal consistency, reproducibility, reliability, and validity.
Conclusion
The CCAT is a robust and valuable tool for measuring compassionate care in healthcare settings. Its patient-centered approach offers crucial insights into the experiences of individuals receiving care. Continued research and implementation of the CCAT can contribute to improving the delivery of compassionate, patient-centered care. Further research could explore the relationship between CCAT scores and other patient outcomes, such as satisfaction and well-being.
