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Development and validation of a Portuguese psychologist's empathy scale: A pilot study
Márcia Cruz1, Ana Grilo2, Susana Custódio3
1Escola Superior de Enfermagem do Porto, CINTESIS@RISE, Porto, Portugal.
Acta Psychologica
|January 26, 2026
Summary
A new scale, the Portuguese Psychologists' Empathy Scale (PPES), was developed to assess empathy in psychologists. Preliminary validation shows promising results for measuring cognitive, affective, and behavioral empathy in clinical settings.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Clinical Psychology
- Psychometrics
Background:
- Empathy assessment is crucial for psychologist competency and clinical practice.
- Existing instruments lack validation for assessing psychologists' self-perceived empathy in clinical contexts.
- Empathy is multidimensional, encompassing cognitive, affective, and behavioral aspects.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop and preliminarily validate the Portuguese Psychologists' Empathy Scale (PPES).
- To create a self-report instrument assessing cognitive, affective, and behavioral empathy in Portuguese psychologists.
Main Methods:
- Pilot study involving item construction and initial psychometric testing.
- Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis on data from 106 Portuguese psychologists.
- Development of a 43-item scale across three empathy dimensions.
Main Results:
- Exploratory factor analysis identified three factors explaining 48% of variance with strong internal consistency.
- Confirmatory factor analysis supported model refinement, resulting in the final 43-item PPES.
- The PPES demonstrates robust internal consistency and acceptable initial factorial validity.
Conclusions:
- The PPES shows encouraging preliminary evidence for assessing empathy in Portuguese psychologists.
- Further validation studies with independent samples are needed to confirm psychometric soundness and clinical applicability.
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