Doctoral Dissertations

Date of Award

5-2000

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Major

Nursing

Major Professor

Martha R. Alligood

Committee Members

Debra Wallace, Carol Seavor, Carol Kasworm

Abstract

Although empathy has been studied extensively, the focus has been on trained empathy and interpersonal skill acquisition, rather than basic empathy. The purpose of this study was to explore the relationships among basic empathy, self-awareness, and learning styles of baccalaureate pre-nursing students. This study examined basic empathy as a multidimensional construct and intrapersonal process. A middle-range theory of basic empathy, self-awareness, and learning styles derived from the personal system of King's General Systems Framework was tested. A descriptive cross-section correlational design was used to test the hypothesis: There are relationships among basic empathy, self- awareness, and learning styles of baccalaureate pre-nursing students.

A convenience sample of 380 participants selected from eight different National League for Nursing accredited baccalaureate nursing programs in two southeastern states, volunteered to complete the Hogan Empathy Scale (HES), the Emotional Empathic Tendency Scale (EETS), the revised Private Self-Consciousness subscale, the revised Public Self-Consciousness subscale, and the Learning Styles Questionnaire (LSQ) along with a personal information form. The scores on the HES, EETS, revised Private and revised Public Self-Consciousness subscales, and the LSQ were correlated using canonical correlation analysis.

The findings of this study provide initial support for the relationships hypothesized by the middle-range theory derived from the theory of personal system empathy. The first canonical variate explained 19.7% of the variance and indicated that students who reported higher levels of self-awareness and who were less theoretical and less pragmatic in their learning styles had higher levels of basic empathy. Psychosocial factors accounted for a small percentage of the total variance. Previous training, previous education, or both previous training and education in counseling skills, human relationships skills, and counseling skills had no significant relationship to basic empathy.

Implications for nursing education include emphasis in the curriculum on students' intrapersonal development of basic empathy. Further research on basic empathy is suggested and further testing of the nursing theory of personal system empathy and the middle-range theory of basic empathy is indicated. Additional recommendations for future research include instrument development to measure basic empathy as a nursing phenomenon. The findings of this study begin to provide the basis for the development of such an instrument.

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