Abstract:
The purpose of this research was to develop a program for training active listening combined with self-awareness, to examine the construct validity of an empathy inventory, and to investigate the effects of the developed program by assessing behavioral and physiological responses. The sample consisted of 200 4th year nursing students from Faculty of Nursing, Praboromarajchanok Institute. These participants were selected by using a stratified random sampling. The 44 students were selected by using simple random sampling for participating in the program evaluation phase. The tools used in the experiment included the active listening and self-awareness training program. Data collection instruments included the empathy inventory, an empathy behavior observation form, and an electrocardiogram. Data were analyzed using frequency distribution, standard deviation, t-test, multivariate analysis of variance, and effect size. The research findings revealed that: 1) The developed active listening and self-awareness training program comprised four steps and nine activities, totaling 12 hours. 2) The confirmatory factor analysis of the empathy inventory showed three components with 20 indicators that were consistent with empirical data. 3) The results of the training program showed that the empathy scores of the experimental group significantly increased after the training and at the follow-up period at the .01 and .05 levels, respectively, with an effect size of 0.16. The empathy behavior scores of the experimental group were significantly higher after the training at the .01 level, with an effect size of 5.87. The comparison of physiological responses indicated that the heart rate and the heart rate variability of the experimental group differed significantly after the experiment at the .01 and .05 level respectively, while the respiration rate did not differ. When comparing the experimental group with the control group after the experiment, there was no significant difference in empathy scores or empathy behavior scores, but the heart rate and heart rate variability of the experimental group differed significantly at the .01 and .05 levels, respectively, with effect sizes of 0.76 and 1.44. However, the respiration rate did not differ between groups. In conclusion, the active listening and self-awareness training program can enhance the level of empathy in nursing students, and the empathy inventory for nursing students comprises components that can effectively measure empathy levels.