Goal Contents, State Empathy and Instructional Goals in a Physical Disability Vignette

Setting and recommending instructional goals represents an important communication process in educational and health domains, which are intersected in many cases. However, little is known about the antecedents of instructional goals. The aim of the present study was to examine how the contents of participants' personal goals in life (i.e. goal contents) and state empathy during message processing affected the processes of prioritizing instructional goals in the case of an adolescent who presented physical disability and impaired cognitive functioning, as presented in a video vignette. Health and care practitioners who were members of the educational system, in-service teachers and university students of disciplines related to health, rehabilitation or education, participated in a cross-sectional study. The findings showed that the participants proposed instructional goals according to their current goal contents and state empathy. In particular, state empathy demonstrated both main effects and mediations in influencing intrinsic instructional goals. However, state empathy, in fact its associative component, influenced an extrinsic goal domain as well. Interpretations of this phenomenon are presented, and the limitations of some tools are demonstrated. In addition, suggestions are put forward regarding implications and future research for a proximal causation of the instructional goals.