Are Prospective Counsellors Able to Listen Emphatically? (A Study among Counselling University Students in Indonesia)

Listening ability determines the success of counseling sessions. Counselors must be able to listen to the various problems presented by their participants wholeheartedly. This research aims to illustrate the ability of emphatic listening among counseling students in Indonesia. This descriptive quantitative study involved 318 participants (88.7% women) aged 18-23 years (M= 19.24, SD=1.108) voluntarily selected through convenience sampling. The emphatic listening skills were measured using The Active-Emphatic Listening Scale by Bodie (2011) using Google Form. Based on statistical analysis, it was found that empathic listening to counseling students was classified as high. The study also argues that there are differences in empathy learning skills based on the environment in which they live. At the same time, differences in sex, age, and study year did not determine differences in listening empathetically. This study confirmed that the environment in which a person grows up has implications for empathy.

Introduction

This book tells the story of Nell M. and the author, her therapist, as they encounter mortal time. When Nell was diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer, she sought counseling because she wasn’t dying soon enough. The text consists of a compilation of 12 illness narratives in conversation with the author. Nell was disappointed that her breast cancer would not prevent her from seeing her husband deteriorate due to Alzheimer’s disease. She had hoped breast cancer would give her an easy exit. Her journey was guided by conversation in psychotherapy, a circle of family and friends, as well as her spiritual community, where she gained strength and sustenance. The narratives include commentary and reflections by the author/therapist as well as a section on coping with three important areas of a patient’s life: the disease of cancer and treatment-related symptoms, personal and professional relationships, and intrusive thoughts and troubling feelings. The therapeutic approach is supportive-expressive counseling with deep empathic listening and compassionate responding at its core. The dialogues include poetry readings and use of music, both comforting elements that inform the art of dying.

Feasibility and Preliminary Effectiveness of a Peer-Developed and Virtually Delivered Community Mental Health Training Program (Emotional CPR): Pre-Post Study

Background The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a global mental health crisis, highlighting the need for a focus on community-wide mental health. Emotional CPR (eCPR) is a program and practice developed by persons with a lived experience of recovery from trauma or mental health challenges to train community members from diverse backgrounds to support others through mental health crises. eCPR trainers have found that eCPR may promote feelings of belonging by increasing supportive behaviors toward individuals with mental health problems. Thus, clinical outcomes related to positive and negative affect would improve along with feelings of loneliness. Objective This study examined the feasibility and preliminary effectiveness of eCPR. Methods We employed a pre-post design with 151 individuals, including peer support specialists, service users, clinicians, family members, and nonprofit leaders, who participated in virtual eCPR trainings between April 20, 2020, and July 31, 2020. Instruments were administered before and after training and included the Herth Hope Scale; Empowerment Scale; Flourishing Scale (perceived capacity to support individuals); Mindful Attention Awareness Scale; Active-Empathic Listening Scale (supportive behaviors toward individuals with mental health challenges); Social Connectedness Scale (feelings of belonging and connection with others); Positive and Negative Affect Schedule; and University of California, Los Angeles 3-item Loneliness Scale (symptoms and emotions). The eCPR fidelity scale was used to determine the feasibility of delivering eCPR with fidelity. We conducted 2-tailed paired t tests to examine posttraining improvements related to each scale. Additionally, data were stratified to identify pre-post differences by role. Results Findings indicate that it is feasible for people with a lived experience of a mental health condition to develop a program and train people to deliver eCPR with fidelity. Statistically significant pre-post changes were found related to one’s ability to identify emotions, support others in distress, communicate nonverbally, share emotions, and take care of oneself, as well as to one’s feelings of social connectedness, self-perceived flourishing, and positive affect (P≤.05). Findings indicated promising evidence of pre-post improvements (not statistically significant) related to loneliness, empowerment, active-empathetic listening, mindfulness awareness, and hope. Nonprofit leaders and workers demonstrated the greatest improvements related to loneliness, social connectedness, empathic listening, and flourishing. Peer support specialists demonstrated the greatest improvements related to positive affect, and clinicians demonstrated the greatest improvements related to mindfulness awareness. Conclusions Promising evidence indicates that eCPR, a peer-developed and peer-delivered program, may increase feelings of belonging while increasing supportive behaviors toward individuals with mental health problems and improving clinical outcomes related to positive and negative affect and feelings of loneliness.

Empathic listening: welcoming strategy for nursing Professional in coping with with the coronavirus pandemic

ABSTRACT Objective: to reflect on empathic listening use as a welcoming strategy for nursing professionals to cope with the challenges during the pandemic caused by the new coronavirus. Methods: this is a reflection study based on updated data surveys and theoretical-conceptual aspects of Non-Violent Communication and empathic listening. Results: in the performance during the COVID-19 pandemic, nursing professionals are exposed to violence of different natures related to occupational stress, work overload, anguishes and silenced suffering, with implications for the workers’ health, who can be benefited and strengthened with empathetic listening. Final considerations: the health crisis has highlighted the weaknesses of the health system. Nursing acts as the largest contingent of the health workforce in coping with the pandemic. Empathetic listening is a powerful strategy in caring for and strengthening nursing professionals.

What Skills Should Be Taught in Health Humanities Education?

This essay argues that those working and teaching in the new field of Health Humanities should avoid definitions of their work that borrow from existing disciplines and focus instead on three fundamental skills. A case study is provided to differentiate health humanities questions from those typically asked by bioethicists. Three skills are given detailed examination: empathic listening, involving the capacity to expand our imagination to others; emotional equanimity, involving the ability to understand and learn from our emotional responses; and the de-centering skills of taming our moral vanity and recognizing the full humanity of others. These are not the only skills in play in health humanities, but these three are basic and will lead to the other skills needed.

Feasibility and Preliminary Effectiveness of a Peer-Developed and Virtually Delivered Community Mental Health Training Program (Emotional CPR): Pre-Post Study (Preprint)

BACKGROUND The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a global mental health crisis, highlighting the need for a focus on community-wide mental health. Emotional CPR (eCPR) is a program and practice developed by persons with a lived experience of recovery from trauma or mental health challenges to train community members from diverse backgrounds to support others through mental health crises. eCPR trainers have found that eCPR may promote feelings of belonging by increasing supportive behaviors toward individuals with mental health problems. Thus, clinical outcomes related to positive and negative affect would improve along with feelings of loneliness. OBJECTIVE This study examined the feasibility and preliminary effectiveness of eCPR. METHODS We employed a pre-post design with 151 individuals, including peer support specialists, service users, clinicians, family members, and nonprofit leaders, who participated in virtual eCPR trainings between April 20, 2020, and July 31, 2020. Instruments were administered before and after training and included the Herth Hope Scale; Empowerment Scale; Flourishing Scale (perceived capacity to support individuals); Mindful Attention Awareness Scale; Active-Empathic Listening Scale (supportive behaviors toward individuals with mental health challenges); Social Connectedness Scale (feelings of belonging and connection with others); Positive and Negative Affect Schedule; and University of California, Los Angeles 3-item Loneliness Scale (symptoms and emotions). The eCPR fidelity scale was used to determine the feasibility of delivering eCPR with fidelity. We conducted 2-tailed paired <i>t</i> tests to examine posttraining improvements related to each scale. Additionally, data were stratified to identify pre-post differences by role. RESULTS Findings indicate that it is feasible for people with a lived experience of a mental health condition to develop a program and train people to deliver eCPR with fidelity. Statistically significant pre-post changes were found related to one’s ability to identify emotions, support others in distress, communicate nonverbally, share emotions, and take care of oneself, as well as to one’s feelings of social connectedness, self-perceived flourishing, and positive affect (<i>P</i>≤.05). Findings indicated promising evidence of pre-post improvements (not statistically significant) related to loneliness, empowerment, active-empathetic listening, mindfulness awareness, and hope. Nonprofit leaders and workers demonstrated the greatest improvements related to loneliness, social connectedness, empathic listening, and flourishing. Peer support specialists demonstrated the greatest improvements related to positive affect, and clinicians demonstrated the greatest improvements related to mindfulness awareness. CONCLUSIONS Promising evidence indicates that eCPR, a peer-developed and peer-delivered program, may increase feelings of belonging while increasing supportive behaviors toward individuals with mental health problems and improving clinical outcomes related to positive and negative affect and feelings of loneliness.