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Development of the Therapist Empathy Scale
Suzanne E Decker1, Charla Nich2, Kathleen M Carroll2
1New England Mental Illness Research Education and Clinical Centers, VA Connecticut Healthcare System, and Yale School of Medicine, USA.
Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy
|March 14, 2013
Summary
The Therapist Empathy Scale (TES) reliably measures therapist empathy in sessions. This new scale shows strong validity and consistency for assessing empathy in psychotherapy.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Clinical Psychology
- Psychotherapy Research
Background:
- Limited measures exist to assess therapist empathy during therapy sessions.
- Therapist empathy is crucial for therapeutic alliance and outcomes.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop and validate the Therapist Empathy Scale (TES), a 9-item observer rating scale.
- To evaluate the inter-rater reliability, internal consistency, and construct/criterion validity of the TES.
Main Methods:
- Raters assessed therapist empathy in 315 client sessions from a multi-site Motivational Interviewing (MI) trial.
- Data from 91 therapists were analyzed to evaluate the TES's psychometric properties.
Main Results:
- The TES demonstrated high inter-rater reliability (ICC = .87–.91) and internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = .94).
- Confirmatory factor analyses supported a single-factor solution.
- Convergent validity was evidenced by strong correlations with MI adherence and competence; discriminant validity was supported by nonsignificant correlations with MI-inconsistent behavior.
Conclusions:
- The TES is a reliable and valid measure of therapist empathy.
- The scale shows potential for use across different psychotherapy approaches and for examining empathy's impact on client outcomes.
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