Developing the Empathic Listening Scale for high school students

The scale that is developed within the scope of the current thesis, will prepare students for the development of the ability of empathic listening by identifying the empathic listening levels of high school students in both their school and classroom communication, as well as their relationships with their family and environment. Performing empathic listening at higher levels, which is a prerequisite for empathy, that is the key behavior of communication, is important in terms of contributing to a more smooth communication environment in schools. Although there are a few scales developed and used abroad in this respect (Bodie, 2011; Drollinger, 2005), in Turkey there is no scale of empathic listening previously developed which shows that the research serves the purpose. Owing to this reliable and valid scale developed, empathic listening level of each class would be determined and in this way the guidance teachers of the schools, would organize studies on empathic listening skills in the guidance programs of these classes by taking the necessary precautions especially for low-grade classes. As a result of the qualitative and quantitative research methods analysis performed after the literature review, 18-item questionnaire consisting of 3 dimensions was obtained and in the analysis conducted to searching the reliability of the scale, the cronbach alpha values of all sub-factors (0.84, 0.71, 0.88) were above the recommended value of 0,70. The overall reliability alpha value of the candidate scale was 0,91. According to all these analyzes, it is accepted that the scale is reliable. As a result of the analyzes conducted to examine the validity of the 18-item questionnaire, item loads and goodness of fit values were found. The goodness of fit values of the 18-item questionnaire, which was developed according to the datas, were found to be in perfect agreement values. Therefore, the scale, which was finalized with 18 questions and 3 dimensions, is a valid and reliable measurement tool. The scale developed for high school students will be able to measure this skill and, if necessary, precautions would be taken to improve this skill. Since the Empathic Listening Scale developed in this study is developed on high school students, it can be developed by selecting a different sample group and the relationship between empathic listening skills and conflict management, stress management, reducing peer bullying, narcissism or academic achievement can be examined.