Empathy Training for Psychology Students Trainees

Empathy Clinical Trial

Official title:

Effectiveness of Empathy Training Among Psychology Students Trainees: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Not yet recruiting

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT06352034
• Other study ID #: Empathy Training for Students
• Status: Not yet recruiting
• Phase: N/A
• Start date: May 20, 2024
• Est. completion date: December 30, 2024

Study information

• Verified date: May 2024
• Source: Peking University
• Contact: Yinyin Zang, PhD
• Phone: 15553201610
• Email: yinyin.zang[@]pku.edu.cn
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Study type: Interventional

Clinical Trial Summary

This study aims to examine the effectiveness of empathy training for psychology student trainees who plan to become mental health practitioners. The training consists of five sessions of psychoeducation, three-role group exercises, and Q&A. Empathy assessment will be based on self-reported, listener-reported, and observer-reported measurements.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Not yet recruiting
• Enrollment: 50
• Est. completion date: December 30, 2024
• Est. primary completion date: June 30, 2024
• Accepts healthy volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers
• Gender: All
• Age group: 18 Years to 65 Years

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

• Adult male and female (aged between 18 and 65 years old)
• Major or double major in psychology
• Currently enrolled undergraduate or graduate students
• Taking psychological counselor as one of the major occupational chooses

Exclusion Criteria:

• Hearing, speech, reading, or writing impairments
• A diagnosis of mental disorders
• Simultaneously participating in other emotional skills training
• Suicidal ideation or self-injurious behavior

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Empathy

Intervention

Behavioral:
• Empathy Training
The intervention contains five themes: 1) An overview of empathy and emotions. 2) Cognitive empathy and clarification technique. 3) Emotional empathy and reflection of feelings technique. 4) Awaring and dealing with the inner feelings while empathizing. 5) Empathy timing and "emotional pendulum" technique.

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
China	Peking University	Peking	Beijing

Sponsors (1)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
Peking University

Country where clinical trial is conducted

China, 

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Primary	Change from counseling duration	A 10-minute counseling simulation will be conducted for each participant. The simulation will last 10 minutes or before 10 minutes if the participant gives up midway. The duration time will be recorded to measure the counseling tolerance of the participants. Longer duration indicates better counseling tolerance.	Through study completion, an average of 3 month
Primary	Change from Baseline of 12-Item Version of the Barrett-Lennard Relationship Inventory	A 12-item empathy self-report, senior-psychological-counselor-report, and simulate-client-report scale measures regard (R), empathic understanding (E), congruence (C), and unconditionality of regard (U) of the therapist. The scoring of each item is from -3 to +3 (12 items, total score varies from -36 to 36). A higher score represents better facilitative conditions the therapist can shape.	Through study completion, an average of 3 month
Primary	Change from consultation willingness question inquiry	A single item inquiry "How willing are you to come back for consultation next time?" will be asked to the simulation "client" to measure the ability to build the counselor-client relationship. The item scores from 0 to 4. A higher score represents a higher ability to build the counselor-client relationship.	Through study completion, an average of 3 month
Primary	Change from morphed emotion perception task	An experimental task measures the ability of emotion perception. Participants need to identify the emotion of facial pictures out of six basic emotions (i.e., anger, sadness, fear, disgust, surprise, and happiness). The higher accuracy indicates better emotion perception ability.	Through study completion, an average of 3 month
Primary	Change from Baseline of the Measure of Empathy Scale	An 8-item empathy self-report scale measures cognitive empathy and emotional empathy on a 5-point Likert scale (score from 1 to 5, and total score vary from 8 to 40). A higher score represents higher empathy ability.	Through study completion, an average of 3 month
Primary	Change from Baseline of the Emotion Perception Scale	A 13-item emotion perception scale measures the extent of emotions within a month, including anger, happiness, sadness, fear, surprise, disgust, guilt, shame, pressure, depression, inner anger, numbness, and aggrievedness. Each item scores from 0 to 5, with total score varying from 0 to 65. A higher score represents a higher extent of feeling the emotions.	1 month
Primary	Change from Baseline of the Peking Alexithymia Scale	A 23-item Peking alexithymia scale measures the ability and willingness to feel, recognize, and share emotions on a 5-point Likert scale (scores from 1 to 5, and total scores vary from 23 to 115). A higher score represents more severe alexithymia.	1 month
Secondary	Change from Baseline of the Patient Health Questionnaire	The 9-item patient health questionnaire (PHQ-9) measures the depression symptoms (scores from 0 to 3, and total score vary from 0 to 27). A higher score represents worse depression symptoms.	2 weeks
Secondary	Change from Baseline of the Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale	The generalized anxiety disorder-7 scale (GAD-7) measures the generalized anxiety disorder symptoms (scored from 0 to 3, and total score from 0 to 21). A higher score represents worse anxiety symptoms.	2 weeks
Secondary	Change from Baseline of the Peking Irritability Scale	A 17-item irritability measurement scale, Peking irritability scale, measures impulsive emotions, thoughts, and behaviors on a 5-point Likert scale (score from 1 to 5, and total score vary from 17 to 85). A higher score represents higher irritability.	1 month
Secondary	Change from Baseline of the the Fatigue Assessment Scale	A 10-item fatigue assessment scale measures the degree of fatigue (score from 1 to 5, and total score vary from 10 to 50). A higher score represents a higher degree of fatigue.	Through study completion, an average of 3 month
Secondary	Change from Baseline of the the Patient Health Questionnaire	A 21-item patient health questionnaire measures the extent of semantic symptoms (score from 0 to 2, and total score vary from 0 to 42). A higher score represents a higher degree of semantic problems.	4 weeks
Secondary	Change from Baseline of the Cognitive-Emotion Regulation Questionnaire	An 18-item cognitive-emotion regulation questionnaire measures regulation strategy (score from 1 to 5, and total score vary from 18 to 90). A higher score represents higher cognitive-emotion regulation ability.	Through study completion, an average of 3 month
Secondary	Change from Baseline of the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale	A 36-item difficulties in emotion regulation scale measures emotion regulation difficulties (score from 1 to 5, and total score vary from 36 to 180). A higher score represents higher difficulties in emotion regulation.	Through study completion, an average of 3 month
Secondary	Change from Baseline of the the Satisfaction with Life Scale	A 5-item satisfaction with life scale measures life satisfaction (score from 1 to 7, and total score vary from 5 to 35). A higher score represents more satisfaction with life.	Through study completion, an average of 3 month
Secondary	Change from Baseline of the the Subjective Happiness Scale	A 4-item subjective happiness scale measures happiness (score from 1 to 7, and total score vary from 4 to 28). A higher score represents a happier state.	Through study completion, an average of 3 month
Secondary	Change from Baseline of the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale	A 10-item Connor-Davidson resilience scale measures resilience (score from 0 to 4, and total score vary from 0 to 40). A higher score represents a higher degree of resilience.	1 month