Barriers to Professional Self-Care Scale (BPS-CS)

Abstract

The Barriers to Professional Self-Care Scale (BPS-CS), developed by Rodríguez-Ramos, Aguilera-Ávila, and Gonzalez-Mendez (2025), is a specialized instrument designed to measure obstacles preventing professional self-care among social workers, primarily within Spain. The initial development involved generating 40 items based on extensive literature review and a qualitative study with essential service providers.

Through rigorous psychometric testing, including both Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA), the scale was refined to a final 17-item structure loading onto four distinct factors: lack of information, self-care is unprofessional, self-care is not a priority, and noninvolvement of organizations. The validation study confirmed the scale’s structure and reported strong evidence of reliability and validity for this tool.

Keywords

Barriers to Professional Self-Care Scale (BPS-CS), Self-Care, Social Workers, professional well-being, employee attitudes, organizational barriers, psychometric inventory, Spain, workplace health.

Authors

Rodríguez-Ramos, Paulo Adrián, Aguilera-Ávila, Laura, and Gonzalez-Mendez, Rosaura.

Purpose

The primary purpose of the BPS-CS is to quantitatively assess the specific obstacles and perceptions that impede the consistent practice of professional self-care behaviors among social workers.

By identifying the magnitude of these barriers—such as systemic beliefs (e.g., self-care is unprofessional) or organizational deficits (e.g., noninvolvement of organizations)—the scale provides actionable data for developing targeted interventions aimed at improving employee well-being and reducing professional burnout in this critical sector.

Construct

The BPS-CS is designed to operationalize the construct of barriers to professional self-care, which encompasses cognitive, attitudinal, and organizational impediments experienced by helping professionals in high-stress roles.

The scale conceptualizes these barriers across four latent dimensions: Lack of Information regarding appropriate self-care strategies; the belief that Self-Care is Unprofessional, suggesting a conflict between professional duty and personal needs; the perception that Self-Care is Not a Priority, reflecting time constraints or workload pressures; and the presence of Noninvolvement of Organizations, indicating a lack of institutional support for worker well-being.

Validity

Evidence for Construct Validity was established through the expected negative association observed between high scores on specific barrier factors, particularly the belief that self-care is unprofessional, and the actual engagement in positive self-care practices.

The researchers noted that while this core relationship confirmed theoretical expectations, the data suggested a nuanced relationship, indicating that not all four barrier dimensions lead to the same predictable negative consequences regarding professional outcomes or well-being deficits, highlighting the complex nature of self-care obstacles.

Reliability

The internal consistency of the BPS-CS was assessed using Cronbach’s alpha coefficients, demonstrating excellent reliability across all identified factors.

The reliability coefficients showed a narrow, highly consistent range, starting at $alpha$ = 0.92 for the Lack of Information factor and reaching $alpha$ = 0.96 for the Self-Care is Unprofessional factor. These high values suggest that the 17 items within each subscale are highly homogeneous and reliably measure the intended underlying construct.

Factor Analysis

The scale development utilized a robust two-step process involving both Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) to determine the final structure.

The initial EFA on the expanded item pool resulted in an initial four-factor structure consisting of 26 items. However, the subsequent initial CFA indicated a poor model fit to the data, as evidenced by the Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA) exceeding the acceptable threshold of 0.06 and the Comparative Fit Index (CFI) falling below the desired 0.95.

Through the application of modification indices and item reduction, the model was refined to the final 17-item, four-factor structure, which demonstrated excellent fit indices: $chi^2(106) = 185.09$, RMSEA = 0.048, SRMR = 0.043, and CFI = 0.99. All 17 retained items exhibited significant factor loadings above 0.30 (p < 0.001) on their respective factors.

Instrument

Test Type: Original

Format: Response options ranged from 1 = not very important to 5 = very important.

Language Available: Spanish

Population Group: Human; Male; Female

Age Group: Adulthood (18 yrs & older); Young Adulthood (18-29 yrs); Thirties (30-39 yrs); Middle Age (40-64 yrs)

Population Details: Location: Spain; Respondents: Social Workers (Age 22 to 55 Years)

Test Methodology: Test Validity; Construct Validity; Test Reliability; Internal Consistency; Factor Analysis; Confirmatory Factor Analysis; Exploratory Factor Analysis.

Keywords

Lack of Information, Noninvolved Organizations, Self-Care Barriers, Employee Well Being, Workplace Health, EFA, CFA, Psychometrics, professional resilience.

Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: No data is Available

Affiliation Email addresses: Gonzalez-Mendez, [email protected]

Correspondence Address: Gonzalez-Mendez, Rosaura: Universidad de La Laguna, Psicología Cognitiva, Social y Organizacional, Facultad de Psicología y Logopedia, Campus de Guajara, San Cristobal de La Laguna, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain, 38205, [email protected]

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

The BPS-CS was developed in 2025. Permissions for use should be obtained by contacting the Corresponding Author. There is currently No Fee specified for the use of this instrument.

Reference’s

Rodríguez-Ramos, P. A., Aguilera-Ávila, L., & Gonzalez-Mendez, R. (2025). Development and validation of the Barriers to Professional Self-Care Scale (BPS-CS). Social Work, 70(1), 69–79. https://doi.org/10.1093/sw/swae052

Items of the Barriers to Professional Self-Care Scale (BPS-CS)

Administration Method: Electronic

Number of items: This is a 17-item measure.

Factors and Subscales:

• Lack of information
• Self-care in unprofessional
• Self-care is not a priority
• Noninvolved organizations