Mapping compassion from others: a mixed-methods research protocol on religious and secular compassionate acts and their association with psychological well-being.

Introduction: Compassion is central to moral and relational functioning, yet its determinants and systemic effects remain a subject of debate. The study linked to the current protocol will examine how fear of and openness to compassion from others are associated with well-being, emotional openness, and prosocial behavior. Additionally, it investigates how spirituality, religiosity, and secularism shape interpretations of compassion and altruism among working adults from diverse religious and ethnic backgrounds. Methods: This research protocol refers to a future study, not started yet, that will employ a concurrent mixed-methods design, combining quantitative and qualitative online survey data with qualitative Microsoft Teams face-to-face interviews to examine how adults interpret compassionate acts through religious, secular, or blended lenses. Biographical and socio-demographic characteristics will be treated as independent variables, psychological outcomes as dependent variables, and received compassion as a moderating variable influencing these associations. Guided by the Social Ecological Model, both strands will be analyzed across individual, interpersonal, organizational, and community levels. Quantitative and qualitative findings will be integrated through joint displays and side-by-side interpretation, enabling statistical patterns to be directly compared with narrative themes and producing a coherent multilevel account of how compassion shapes well-being and relational functioning. The quantitative component will incorporate precise regression-based moderation models, covariate adjustment protocols, and missing data handling, while the qualitative strand will rely strictly on thematic analysis to avoid inappropriate methodological crossover. Expected results: As this is a research protocol, no assumptions are made regarding the direction, magnitude, or significance of findings. The study to which the protocol refers is designed to examine how individuals interpret acts of compassion received from others through religious, secular, or blended frameworks and whether these interpretations are associated with psychological and relational outcomes. Findings will be interpreted as exploratory and context dependent, with conclusions limited to the study sample and design. Discussion: Findings of the future study may contribute to future discussions concerning compassion within public health, education, and social care contexts; however, any practical recommendations should be regarded as preliminary and exploratory pending further research using longitudinal and representative designs.