Factor structure of the professional quality of life scale among direct support professionals: factorial validity and scale reliability.
The ProQOL scale validly measures compassion satisfaction, burnout, and secondary trauma in DSPs—use it to monitor staff well-being.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Researchers tested the Professional Quality of Life scale on 495 direct support professionals. These staff work daily with adults who have intellectual or developmental disabilities. The team ran a confirmatory factor analysis to see if the scale keeps its three-part structure in this new group.
What they found
The three factors held up: compassion satisfaction, burnout, and secondary trauma. After small wording tweaks, reliability scores improved. The scale now gives a trustworthy picture of DSP well-being.
How this fits with other research
Laugeson et al. (2014) did the same kind of check on the WHOQOL-BREF with parents of children with autism. Both studies used confirmatory factor analysis and both kept the original factor count after tiny item shifts. Jubenville-Wood et al. (2024) later repeated the process with the Caregiver Strain Questionnaire in Chinese-speaking parents. Together these papers show a pattern: caregiver scales usually keep their structure across languages and roles, but you must test them first.
Why it matters
You can now give the ProQOL to your DSPs with confidence. Track their compassion satisfaction and catch burnout early. A five-minute survey each quarter tells you who needs support before they quit. Better staff well-being means better services for the people you serve.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
BACKGROUND: Direct support professionals (DSPs) support people with intellectual and developmental disabilities in activities of daily living. DSPs may experience both contentment and struggles with their work. As agencies grapple with their recruitment and retention, understanding DSPs' holistic work experience is important. The Professional Quality of Life (ProQOL) scale assesses multiple domains of work experiences (i.e. compassion satisfaction, burnout and secondary traumatic stress). Despite extensive use across helping professions, the ProQOL is largely absent from DSP research. METHOD: This study examined the factor structure of the ProQOL with DSPs. Using secondary data from 495 DSPs, confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to determine if the original three-factor structure holds for this population. RESULTS: We confirmed the factorial validity of the ProQOL with the three-factor solution. In the validation process, some modifications were suggested to the model, which also improved the scale reliability. CONCLUSIONS: The current study provides initial evidence of the factorial validity of the ProQOL when used with DSPs, as well as recommendations for subsequent improvements and future research.
Journal of intellectual disability research : JIDR, 2020 · doi:10.1111/jir.12766