Professional Quality of Life Scale

What it measures

Measures the positive (Compassion Satisfaction) and negative (Burnout, Secondary Traumatic Stress) aspects of helping work. Compassion Satisfaction is the pleasure derived from helping effectively; Burnout captures exhaustion and hopelessness; Secondary Traumatic Stress reflects trauma symptoms arising from exposure to others' trauma. Widely used with healthcare workers, therapists, and first responders.

Response format

Likert (1–5, never to very often) over the past 30 days; three 10-item subscale scores

Representative items

• I am happy that I chose to do this work. (Compassion Satisfaction)
• I feel I have hope regarding my ability to contribute to the work I do. (CS)
• I feel worn out because of my work as a helper. (Burnout)
• I feel depressed because of the traumatic experiences of the people I help. (STS)
• I have beliefs that sustain me. (Compassion Satisfaction)

Usage notes & scoring

Freely available from Beth Hudnall Stamm at proqol.org. Three subscale T-scores. High Compassion Satisfaction + Low Burnout + Low STS = healthy helper. Widely used in healthcare workforce research, social work, emergency services, and supervision contexts. Separate norms available for different helper populations.

Recommended companion scales

Citation

Stamm, B.H. (2010). The Concise ProQOL Manual, 2nd ed. www.proqol.org.

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