Objective Fostering a healthy organizational culture in the health workplace is essential on improving the workers’ well-being. The concept of holistic care culture emphasizes holistic caring for their well-being. The present study aims to develop and evaluate an instrument for assessing the holistic care culture (HCCS).

Methods A self-report questionnaire was administered to 312 mental health care workers. Based on an initial pool of 48 items, 24 items was selected on the basis of theoretical meaning and clinical relevance to holistic care. The factor structure, internal consistency and construct validity of the HCCS were inspected using SPSS 18.0.

Results Through exploratory factor analysis using principal axis factoring and promax rotation, 13 items with low communalities or double loadings were removed, resulting in a three-factor structure with 63.3% explained variance. The three factors, namely, caring work environment (α = .86), social support at work (α = .88), and sense of mission (α = .79), were significantly and positively correlated (r = .51 - .62). The HCCS were significantly and negatively associated with physical distress (r = -.33 to -.47), depression (r = -.35 to -.46), and work burnout (r = -.27 to -.45, p < .01). The HCC total score was positively linked to daily spiritual experience (r = .22, p < .01).

Conclusions The HCCS demonstrates satisfactory levels of psychometric properties. Future research could apply it to assess the holistic care culture and its association with work outcomes.