Strengthening empathy in children with autism: A single-case study of a music and movement programme

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have difficulty recognizing subtle expressions of feelings, identifying and understanding various other states of emotion expressed by others, and knowing what to do in a set of conditions that exist at a particular time in a particular place. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects that a music-movement programme can have on a 6-year-old girl with ASD ‐ specifically her ability to recognize and understand the feelings of others, communicate clearly about her personal emotional states and build stronger relationships. Results showed that the programme appeared to enhance empathic development for the young girl with ASD and reduced the frequency of difficulty in determining emotional reactions in others, describing emotional states, and difficulty thinking and feeling about a situation. These initial results support the use of the programme to reduce maladaptive behaviours of children with ASD and increase their awareness of and sensitivity towards others.

Adolescence, Empathy, and the Gender Gap in Delinquency

I propose the gender gap in delinquency is linked to adolescents’ orientation to gender-normative behavior and empathic development. I use longitudinal data on 1,525 youth from the Denver Youth Survey to analyze relationships among gender, empathy, and delinquency. I find girls exhibit higher levels of empathy across adolescence than do boys, and these differences emerge in preadolescence. Empathy is inversely related to delinquency, and is predictive of fraud and theft, but not violent delinquency. Finally, empathy partially mediates the effect of being male on delinquency. I therefore argue the gender gap in delinquency can be explained—in part—by adherence to gender norms governing empathetic expression.

Kids’ Empathic Development Scale: Turkish Language Validity and Reliability

Empathy is one of the skills that we need in order to understand the emotions of other people. Although many empathy scales exist, few are designed for children. The Kids’ Empathic Development Scale (KEDS) can be applied onward of age 6 and provide information about empathy’s affective, cognitive and behavioural components. The aim of this study is to present the Turkish validity study of KEDS and to provide a new tool that has satisfactory psychometric properties. Nine language experts made the translation and back translation form English to Turkish and vice versa. After that, the experts asked to rate the translation validity. According to experts’ opinions, the appropriate level of the items in the scale varied between 4.60 and 5.00 (X= 4.80, SD = .44). The results indicated that the Turkish scale closely approximated with the original. The scale’s language validity, analyses were performed on 30 (21 girls, 9 boys, average age = 9.5, SD = 1.17), bilingual students. Analysis, which was performed between the English and Turkish forms, showed that only the item I7_1 was found out to be problematic. Afterward, the scale’s language validity was ensured and easily accessible sampling method was adopted, and then it was applied to 293 (144 girls, 149 boys) students who were attending in seven different schools (four public, three private). Correlation analysis, which was performed to test concurrent validity, showed that there is a positive correlation (p < .01) between the total scores of Children’s Empathy Scale and Kids’ Empathic Development Scale. The results of variance analysis, which were performed in order to test if the empathy scores vary according to age, were significant as follows: total empathy score F (4, 248) = 3.10, p < .05, affective F (4, 251) = 4.70, p < .01, cognitive F (4, 250) = 2.6, p < .05 and behavioural F (4, 248) = 4.09, p < .01. Taking into consideration the gender variable not significant results were obtained. The results of the study showed that the Turkish version of KEDS is a valid and reliable, and has acceptable psychometric properties.

Gray Reflections: Poetry as a Pathway to Nursing Student Empathy and the Creation of Meaning in a Long-Term-Care Clinical Practicum

The unique needs of the aging adult require caregivers who can completely comprehend the experience of this population. Purposefully educating nursing students to enhance development of empathy is crucial for the provision of adequate care. Innovative pedagogical strategies that produce opportunities for nursing students to reflect on patient care experiences are an opportunity for educators to guide the creation of meaning in practice for nursing students. The use of poetry reading and writing enhances the student reflective process in clinical practicum environments and may serve as a strategy to support empathic development in nursing students.

Should Empathic Development Be a Priority in Biomedical Ethics Teaching? A Critical Perspective

Biomedical ethics is an essential part of the medical curriculum because it is thought to enrich moral reflection and conduce to ethical decisionmaking and ethical behavior. In recent years, however, the received idea that competency in moral reasoning leads to moral responsibility “in the field” has been the subject of sustained attention. Today, moral education and development research widely recognize moral reasoning as being but one among at least four distinguishable dimensions of psychological moral functioning alongside moral motivation, moral character, and moral sensitivity. In a reflection of this framework, medical educators and curriculum planners repeatedly advance the idea that educators should be concerned with supporting empathy, and this, very often, as a means of improving on and broadening medical ethics education’s traditional focus on moral reasoning.