The effects of empathic communication training on the levels of empathic skills of mothers with preschool children

uı ABSTRACT The effects of Empathic Communication Training on the levels of empathic skills of mothers with preschool children. The aim of the study was to analyse how the "Empathic Communication Training" affected the levels of empathic skills of mothers with preschool children. The study population was chosen from the list of mothers whose children were attending the preschool class of Müjgan Karaçalı Elementary School and istiklal Elementary School under the organization of the Ministry of Education in Yenimahalle district of Ankara. A total of 34 mothers weie randomly selected and divided into two groups. Both groups, control and experimental, included 17 mothers. There was a pretest, a posttest and a control group in the design of the study. The researcher prepared an "Empathic Communication Training Program" for the experimental group. Regarding this program, the experimental group was trained by the researcher. The training program was organized as 10 sessions that lasted 90 minutes twice a week. The training program was not given to the control group. "Empathic Skjlls Scale B Form (EBÖ-B Form)" (Dökmen, 1988) was used to assess the levels of empathic skills of the mothers participating the study. The EBÖ-B form was given to the experimental group as a pretest before the "Empathic Communication Training" and as a posttest following the training and as a retest one month a$er the training. The EBÖ-B form was given to the control group as a pretest and posttest The data was analised by the "t-Test For Independent Samples", "t-Test For Paired Sampjes", "Mann- Whitney U Test", "Simple Correlation Analysis (Pearsqn Correlation Coefficient)" and "Chi-Square Test". The posttest results of the experimental and control group indicated a significant improvement in the levels of empathic skills of the experimental groupIV (p<0.01). Hie repeated posttest result also showed that the effect of the trailing continued. There is no significant statistical relationship between the levels of empathic skills and the mothers* ages and education levels m both groups (p>0.05). Key words: Empathy, Empathy Skills, Empathy Training, Empathic Communication, Empathic Listening and Response.