The self-other agreement of multiple informants on empathy measures and its relation to empathic accuracy

The interplay of acceptance and effectiveness in intervention studies: the example of the empCARE training to reduce burnout and distress symptoms in health care providers

OBJECTIVE

Although almost every study evaluating psychological interventions includes the two components of acceptability and effectivity, their relationship is rarely examined. The current study closes this gap by performing secondary analyses of the intervention program 'empCARE'. The goal was to analyze the relationship between these two evaluation components.

DESIGN

The sample consists of 309 nurses (intervention group n = 172; control group n = 137). Data were collected before the training and longitudinally three times after the training.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

Psychological distress was assessed using the Symptom Checklist (SCL-90-R), and the Copenhagen Burnout Inventory. Personality traits were assessed using the HEXACO-60 and the Toronto Empathy Questionnaire. Acceptability was assessed using statements concerning participants' subjective evaluation of the training.

RESULTS

The results show that the intervention program was effective. Acceptability, measured only in the intervention group, was quite high. However, no connection was found between effectivity and acceptability. On the contrary, the results show that acceptability assessments depend more on personality factors than on intervention success.

CONCLUSIONS

Researchers should examine the relationship between acceptability and effectivity in their data. It does not seem appropriate to rely on acceptability measurements as the sole evaluation criterion capturing the success of an intervention.

The impostor phenomenon in the eye of knowledgeable others: the association of the impostor phenomenon with the judge's accuracy

This study examines whether a heightened impostor expression is associated with a judge's assessment. The sample comprised n = 155 triads (target, mother, and a friend). Results indicated a slightly higher profile agreement between the target and mother (rraw = 0.47; rdistinct = 0.33) than a friend (rraw = 0.41; rdistinct = 0.23). The profile agreement was inversely correlated with the IPP total score, Competence Doubt, Alienation, and Other-Self Divergence (r = ≤ -0.29, p < 0.001), indicating reduced accuracy among judges when confronted with a heightened impostor expression. However, these relationships disappear once controlling for stereotype effects. Overall, this study reveals a negative association between the impostor expression and the other-self agreement, supporting the biasing self-presentation of impostors in the eye of others.

Measuring Empathy Across the Adult Lifespan: A Comparison of Three Assessment Types

Empathy is a core component of social cognition that can be indexed via behavioral, informant-report, or self-report methods of assessment. However, concerns have been raised regarding the lack of convergence between these assessment approaches for cognitive empathy. Here, we provided the first comparison of all three measurement approaches for cognitive and affective empathy in a large adult sample (N = 371) aged 18 to 101 years. We found that poor convergence was more of a problem for cognitive empathy than affective empathy. While none of the cognitive empathy measures correlated with each other, for affective empathy, self-report was significantly associated with both behavioral and informant-report assessments. However, for both cognitive and affective empathy, there was evidence for poor discriminant validity within the measures. Out of the three assessment approaches, only the informant-report measures were consistently associated with indices of social functioning. Importantly, age did not moderate any of the tested relationships, indicating that both the strengths and the limitations of these different types of assessment do not appear to vary as a function of age. These findings highlight the variation that exists among empathy measures and are discussed in relation to their practical implications for the assessment of empathy.

Attitudes toward older people among nursing students in Greece

BACKGROUND

The age profile of the population has shifted globally. Age discrimination has been documented, particularly in the areas of health and employment.

AIM

This study aims at examining nursing students' attitudes toward older people and dehumanization of older people among nursing students.

METHODS

A cross-sectional design was employed in this study. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data, which included a sociodemographic variables questionnaire, the Kogan's Attitude towards Old People Scale (KAOP) scale, a modified version of the Human Nature & Human Uniqueness Scale, the Ten-Item Personality Inventory (TIPI) and the Toronto Empathy Questionnaire. A total of 410 undergraduate nursing students participated in this study. Descriptive statistics were applied while inferential statistics such as Pearson correlation, and regression analysis with the stepwise method were also performed. The significant level was set as p ≤ .05. SPSS-25 was used for the analysis of data.

RESULTS

The total mean score of the KAOP scale was 128.84 ± 14.32, indicating that nursing students had a slightly positive view of older individuals. Nursing students scored higher on the mechanistic dehumanization scale than on the animalistic dehumanization one. A strong negative association was found between Mechanistic and Animalistic dehumanization with the KAOP scale and empathy. Year of study, age, and gender were identified as predictor variables for mechanical dehumanization.

CONCLUSION

Personality traits, demographic variables, and nursing students' level of empathy are factors that influence their views about older people and the dehumanization of older people.

Development of the Mental Health Support Scale: A New Measure of Mental Health First Aid Behaviors

Mental health first aid (MHFA) courses teach community members the knowledge and skills needed to recognize and respond to mental health problems until professional help is received or the crisis resolves. This study aimed to develop a reliable and valid measure of MHFA behaviors. A pool of actions that were recommended and not recommended were selected from MHFA guidelines and developed into two scales measuring either intended or provided support. Items were tested with a sample of 697 adults. Item response theory guided the selection of final items. The Mental Health Support Scale (MHSS) Intended version has 23 items across two subscales and the MHSS-Provided has 12 items across two subscales. These scales demonstrated convergent validity, discrimination between respondents with and without MHFA expertise, and acceptable measurement precision across a range of skill levels. Overall, findings suggest that the MHSS is a valid and useful measure of MHFA behaviors.

Tugging at Their Heartstrings: Partner's Knowledge of Affective Meta-Bases Predicts Use of Emotional Advocacies in Close Relationships

Traditional studies of attitude change have focused on attempts between strangers, but what about in close relationships? The present article examines whether accuracy regarding a partner's meta-attitudinal bases can influence persuasion attempts. Because meta-bases reflect informationprocessing goals, we hypothesized that given partners with more affective meta-bases, greater accuracy regarding partners' meta-bases would predict use of emotional advocacies and their perceived persuasiveness. Self and partner ratings of meta-bases were assessed, and emotional advocacies as well as cognitive ones were provided to participants to present to their partners. Results revealed that the correspondence between perceptions of partner's affective meta-bases and use of emotional advocacies was greater among those whose partners rated themselves as having more affective meta-bases compared to those whose partners rated themselves as having less affective meta-bases. Results remained significant when controlling for perceived similarity. Implications of meta-bases for understanding interpersonal influence are discussed.

The Empathic Capacity and the Ability to Regulate It: Construction and Validation of the Empathy Management Scale (EMS)

The aim of this study was to develop a measure to evaluate the management of empathic capacity. To this end, two studies were conducted. Study 1 (N = 277, 172 females) describes the scale creation procedure, factorial validity, and internal consistency. The exploratory factor analysis yielded a five-factor model with 18 items (62.4% of the variance explained). The dimensions were as follows: D1: identification, D2: incorporation, D3: reverberation, D4: separation, and D5: projection. The internal consistency was good (alpha values ranging from 0.70 to 0.80). Study 2 (N = 480, 323 females) examined the validity (including convergent validity) of the model and the relationships with sociodemographic variables. The five-factor model showed a robust goodness of fit, χ² = 240.5, p < 0.001, root mean square residual (RMSR) = 0.05. The fit indices were satisfactory, Non-normed fit index (NNFI) = 0.89, comparative fit index (CFI) = 0.90, mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) = 0.04. The convergent validity analysis showed that, as empathy management increased, so too did the empathy level and emotional intelligence. Some differences by age and sex were found. In conclusion, the Empathy Management Scale is a valid and reliable instrument for analyzing the empathic process that allows vulnerabilities and strengths to be estimated, which could improve professional practice in the healthcare context.