A study with a follow-up of the effects of music education on holistic development of empathy

Half of the 32 children, aged 6 yr. old, took part in the 12-hr. holistic empathy education program with music exercises over three months. Others were controls. Children were tested at a pretest, 3 months later at the posttet after the training, and follow-up test, 9 months after posttest. The Feshbach and Roe Empathy Slide Test, the Weir and Duveen Prosociability Rating Scale, and the Kalliopuska Prosociability Rating Scale for Teachers were used. Empathy and prosociability increased significantly from pretest to posttest after empathy education. As hypothesized, comparison of pretest and follow-up test results showed a significant increase in empathy for the test group and a nonsignificant increase among controls.