A standardised instrument for community resource mapping in social prescribing: Development and content validation of the COMPASS™ tool

BACKGROUND: Social prescribing aims to address non-medical determinants of health by connecting individuals to community-based resources. However, its systematic implementation is constrained by the limited availability of structured and transferable approaches to map and characterise community resources in a consistent and transparent manner. 

METHODS: A multi-phase methodological study was conducted. Phase I involved instrument development and content validation using a two-round modified Delphi process with an international expert panel. Phase II comprised forward-backward translation and cross-cultural adaptation following established guidelines. Phase III involved preliminary field testing of the Portuguese version in a Lisbon municipality, including assessment of item completion, time to completion, perceived completeness and usefulness, and exploratory analyses of inter-rater reliability and temporal stability. 

RESULTS: The initial 36-item version of the COMPASS™ tool achieved a scale-level content validity index of 0.85, informing revision and reduction to 21 items. In Round 2, near-perfect consensus was achieved (S-CVI = 0.98 for both clarity and relevance). Cross-cultural adaptation demonstrated strong semantic and conceptual equivalence. Field testing across 16 community resources showed high item completion (95.5%) and a mean completion time of 14.8 min. The tool was rated as highly complete (mean = 4.4/5) and useful (mean = 4.6/5). Preliminary analyses indicated substantial inter-rater agreement and high temporal stability. 

CONCLUSION: The COMPASS™ tool demonstrated strong content validity, successful cultural adaptation, and preliminary evidence of feasibility for community resource mapping. As social prescribing becomes increasingly integrated into health systems, structured tools such as COMPASS™ may support more consistent identification and organisation of community resources, contributing to population health monitoring and to addressing the social determinants of health.