- Kemppainen, Jeanne;
- Brion, John;
- Leary, Mark;
- Wantland, Dean;
- Sullivan, K;
- Nokes, Kathleen;
- Bain, Catherine;
- Chaiphibalsarisdi, Puangtip;
- Voss, Joachim;
- Tyer-Viola, Lynda;
- Corless, Inge;
- Nicholas, Patrice;
- Rose, Carol;
- Phillips, J;
- Sefcik, Elizabeth;
- Mendez, Marta;
- Kirksey, Kenn;
- Holzemer, William;
- Eller, Lucille;
- Iipinge, Scholastika;
- Portillo, Carmen;
- Johnson, Mallory;
- Chen, Wei-Ti
The objective of this study was to extend the psychometric evaluation of a brief version of the Self-Compassion Scale (SCS). A secondary analysis of data from an international sample of 1967 English-speaking persons living with HIV disease was used to examine the factor structure, and reliability of the 12-item Brief Version Self-Compassion Inventory (BVSCI). A Maximum Likelihood factor analysis and Oblimin with Kaiser Normalization confirmed a two-factor solution, accounting for 42.58% of the variance. The BVSCI supported acceptable internal consistencies, with 0.714 for the total scale and 0.822 for Factor I and 0.774 for Factor II. Factor I (lower self-compassion) demonstrated strongly positive correlations with measures of anxiety and depression, while Factor II (high self-compassion) was inversely correlated with the measures. No significant differences were found in the BVSCI scores for gender, age, or having children. Levels of self-compassion were significantly higher in persons with HIV disease and other physical and psychological health conditions. The scale shows promise for the assessment of self-compassion in persons with HIV without taxing participants, and may prove essential in investigating future research aimed at examining correlates of self-compassion, as well as providing data for tailoring self-compassion interventions for persons with HIV.