Validation of the self-compassion scale in a community sample of Portuguese pregnant women

Introduction In recent years, researchers and clinicians have shown an increasing interest in self-compassion. Indeed, several studies have suggested that self-compassion is a positive factor for mental and physical health. The Self-Compassion Scale (SCS; Neff, 2003) has been widely used to assess six dimensions of self-compassion (self-kindness, self-judgment, common humanity, isolation, mindfulness and over-identification) among diverse populations. Recently, it has also been used in perinatal samples but its psychometric properties in pregnant women is still unexplored. Objective This study aims was to investigate the reliability and the validity of the SCS using Confirmatory Factor Analysis in a sample of Portuguese pregnant women. Methods Participants were 417 pregnant women with a mean age of 33 years old (SD = 4.74) in their second trimester of pregnancy (M = 17.26, SD = 4.78, weeks of gestation). Participants completed the Portuguese version of the SCS while waiting for the routine prenatal consultation in Maternity Hospital, Portugal. Results A was tested and results showed that the six-factor model had a good fit to the data (TLI = 0.93, CFI = 0.94, RMSEA = 0.06). The total SCS presented a good internal reliability (α = 0.91) and their subscales showed Cronbachu0027s alphas ranging between adequate (α = 0.77) and good (α = 0.87). Conclusions Overall, these findings suggest that the Portuguese version of the SCS is a valid and reliable measure to assess self-compassion among pregnant women. Thus, SCS could be useful in diverse settings in the perinatal period.