The Maternal Compassion Preoccupation Questionnaire (MCPQ): Development and initial validation.

Abstract

Complex emotions may be aroused by the enormous compassion involved in infant care, expressed in the mother's constant exposure to the infant's distress and her prodigious investment in efforts to alleviate it. The present two studies aimed to design and examine the construct validity of the Maternal Compassion Preoccupation Questionnaire to assess the multifaceted experience of the compassion inherent in infant care as reflected in the concepts of compassion fatigue, compassion satisfaction, and self-compassion. Study 1 describes the initial development and validation of the questionnaire, and Study 2 presents further examination of its convergent and discriminant validity. Two convenience samples were recruited through social media. Participants in Study 1 consisted of 455 women aged 21-47 (M = 32.12, SD = .01) whose babies were 1-12 months old. Participants in Study 2 consisted of 453 women aged 21-47 (M = 31.34, SD = 4.34) whose babies were up to 10 months old. The final scale contains 29 items that tap the three dimensions matching the theoretical concepts on which it is based and displays good psychometric properties. In addition, compassion fatigue was positively associated with postpartum depression and negatively associated with role satisfaction and mindfulness; compassion satisfaction and self-compassion were both negatively associated with postpartum depression and positively associated with role satisfaction and mindfulness. The Maternal Compassion Preoccupation Questionnaire is a reliable and valid measure that can facilitate understanding of the complex and multifaceted experience of mothers caring for young infants. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).