MAPPING COMPASSION IN THE GENERAL ADULT POPULATION: RELIGIOUS AND SECULAR COMPASSIONATE ACTS IN SOCIAL RELATIONSHIPS AND ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE

Carlo Lazzari^1*Paul Crawford²Yasuhiro Kotera²

• ¹International Centre for Healthcare and Medical Education, Bristol, UK, Bristol, United Kingdom
• ²University of Nottingham School of Life Sciences, Nottingham, United Kingdom

**Background** Compassion, defined as recognising suffering and acting to ease it, is increasingly recognised as a public health resource. It supports resilience, trust, and cooperation, and is expressed through interpersonal care, ethical leadership, and institutional support. Interpretations vary across religious, secular, and cultural contexts, making it important to clarify how compassion is understood. Existing studies link compassion to mental health and community resilience, but its role in organisational and public life is less explored. **Methods** This study examined how religious and secular ethics shape perceptions of compassion received from others, and how these experiences influence relationships and collective activities. It also investigated how compassionate behaviours in workplaces contribute to organisational climate. Rather than measuring health outcomes directly, the study focused on identifying mechanisms that enable compassion to function as a public health asset, drawing on both quantitative measures and qualitative narratives. **Results** Participants reported that compassion was rarely visible in public discourse, especially in media (χ² = 75.30, p < 0.001), despite its perceived importance in healthcare (χ² = 27.11, p < 0.001), education, and family life. In workplace settings, receiving compassion was strongly linked to team cohesion, ethical leadership, and support during personal crises (χ² = 364.32; χ² = 138.29, both p < 0.001). Qualitative accounts described compassion as empathic acknowledgement, shaped by both religious traditions and secular experiences, and embedded in everyday social and professional life. **Conclusion** Receiving compassion emerges as a valuable social and organisational resource, positioning it as a potential public health asset. Compassion strengthens bonds within communities and workplaces, fostering trust, cooperation, and resilience. Religious frameworks often interpret compassion as a sacred duty, while secular perspectives emphasise fairness and civic responsibility. Together, these highlight compassion’s versatility as both spiritual and civic resource. Limitations include reliance on self‑reported data, broad definitions of “organisation,” and a U.S.‑based sample. Future research should use longitudinal and observational designs to confirm findings and examine how cultural contexts and intersecting identities shape understandings of compassion.