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The purpose of this paper is to examine pre and post outcome measures following a course of Compassionate Mind Training (CMT). Participants were students enrolled on a Post Graduate Diploma in Cognitive Behavioural Psychotherapy (CBP). The aim of the research was to explore whether CMT would increase self-compassion, compassion for others, dispositional empathy and reduce self-critical judgement.

In total, 21 participants who had enrolled on the CBP programme took part in the study. Data were collected using the self-compassion scale, interpersonal reactivity index, and the compassion for others scale.

Results reveal an overall statistically significant increase in self-compassion scores and statistically significant reduction in self-critical judgement scores post training. There was no statistically significant difference post training on the interpersonal reactivity index or the compassion for others scale.

CMT training may help students develop healthy coping strategies, which they can use to balance their affect regulation systems when faced with organisational, placement, client, academic, personal and supervision demands. Further research and longitudinal studies, using larger sample sizes are needed to explore if cultivating compassion whilst on psychotherapy training helps students build resilience and provide a barrier against empathic distress fatigue, compassion fatigue, secondary traumatic stress, and burnout.

Incorporating CMT into a CBP programme may bring changes in student levels of self-compassion and self-critical judgement.

This inaugural study examines whether incorporating CMT into a CBP programme impacts on students levels of compassion, dispositional empathy and self-critical judgement. The findings from this preliminary study suggest the potential benefits of training students in compassion focused practices.

Considering that knowledge, skills and behavior can influence sustainability efforts, this study aims to assess which personality traits influence one’s sense of feeling connected to nature and presumably make more sustainable choices. The study also explores the situational factors that might pose barriers, despite an individual's preference for a sustainable lifestyle.

In total, 54 faculty members from six Higher Education Institutions in Bangladesh were interviewed based on a semi-structured questionnaire on the barriers to a sustainable lifestyle in Dhaka city, while their personality traits were assessed using the Interpersonal Reactivity Index, the Big Five Factors and the Connectedness to Nature Scale through a survey.

The results state that Empathic Concern and Fantasy, as dimensions of empathy, have strong positive correlations with feeling connected to nature. The physical, social and psychological challenges also cause fewer people to lead a sustainable lifestyle, despite feeling highly connected to nature.

Sustainability efforts need to be context-specific due to localized challenges the people face. While educators play a key role in mainstreaming sustainability, generalizing the findings of the study to the wider population is limited. Further investigation to explore demographic and socioeconomic factors will provide key insights to the determinants of sustainable behavior.

The findings highlight that educational institutions can play a key role in the development of empathy and sustainability education, while addressing the need for good governance and policies in mainstreaming sustainability for attaining the Sustainable Development Goals Agenda 2030.

Few studies have been conducted to understand sustainable behavior in Bangladesh and identify effective methods to promote sustainability. This study provides insights to sustainable behavior in the context of a least-developed country. Additionally, it will support educational institutions to work toward sustainable development by enabling empathic skills development in curricula, leading to more concrete sustainability efforts.

Recent evidence indicates an improving effect of the co-occurrence of autistic traits and psychotic symptoms on social cognition, but there is no agreement on the effect of the interaction between autistic traits and psychotic proneness on empathy. The aim of this study is to examine the effect of the interaction between autistic traits and positive psychotic experiences on cognitive and affective empathy.

The sample consisted of 420 adults aged between 18 and 60. Assessments were administered anonymously online. Empathic abilities were evaluated by the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI). While Autism Spectrum Quotient (AQ) was applied to measure autistic traits, The Community Assessment of Psychic Experience (CAPE) was used as a measurement of positive psychotic experiences.

A series of regression analyses showed that although AQ and CAPE scores were not correlated with cognitive-IRI, the interaction between these scores predicted cognitive-IRI scores. It was found that the personal distress subscale of IRI was significantly associated with AQ, but this relationship was moderated by CAPE scores.

These findings provide a different perspective on understanding social cognitive impairments in autism, which may have potential clinical implications. Findings also contribute to explaining the individual differences in empathic abilities.

The current study explored staff attitudes towards patient‐to‐patient bullying in a forensic learning disability service housing male clients, and the potential role of empathy. One hundred staff took part (51 men and 49 women). All completed the Attitudes towards Bullying scale ‐ Secure version (AB‐S) and the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI). It was predicted that women would report more positive attitudes towards victims of bullying than men, and that increased empathy would be associated with decreased negative attitudes. It was also anticipated that increased length of service would be related to an increase in negative attitude towards victims. The results are discussed with regard to the environment in which bullying is taking place with suggestions for interventions.

This paper seeks to describe the introduction of a component designed to enhance empathy, to an established cognitive behavioural treatment program for sexual offenders with an intellectual disability.

The treatment group received an empathy component and was compared with a control group. Therapeutic efficacy was assessed pre‐ and post‐treatment and at follow‐up using the interpersonal reactivity index which assesses fantasy; perspective taking; empathic concern and personal distress experienced due to others' misfortune.

There were no significant differences between treatment and control groups at baseline. For the treatment group, significant differences were identified between pre, post and three‐month follow‐up assessments indicating an increased empathy at post‐treatment assessment, the treatment group had significantly improved over the controls.

Future research could compare empathy measures and investigate specifically the relationship between what is taught in empathy programs and what is measured by empathy assessments. Difficulties with the study are discussed.

The empathy component appears to enhance empathic responses.

The increasing complexity of civil engineering projects necessitates focusing on new competencies of project participants. Based on the research on team performance and design processes that are more closely linked to the relevance of the project context, it is hypothesised that empathic abilities could play an important role in the performance of civil engineering projects. Therefore, this study aims to investigate whether performance can be improved by focusing on empathic abilities during the integrated design phase.

Semi-structured in-depth interviews with experts were conducted to explore the relevance of empathic abilities and their interaction with performance in a real-life infrastructure project. The project team’s empathy level was measured by means of a survey using Davis’ Interpersonal Reactivity Index method. Finally, differences between expected and measured levels of empathy were analysed.

The results provide insights into how empathic abilities interact with performance. The measurement indicates that, on average, professionals in the civil engineering industry score relatively low on empathy. In addition, differences were identified between the expected distribution and the measured empathy levels of the team, implying a potential for improvement, in particular by increasing the empathic abilities of the project management and increasing gender diversity.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to investigate a relationship between empathy and the performance of civil engineering projects. The results provide initial insights into the empathic ability of civil engineering project teams and the potential of empathy to improve performance. Furthermore, from an empathy perspective, this study advocates increasing the gender diversity of project teams to improve performance.

The purpose of this paper was to assess empathy dimensions in Tunisian psychiatry trainees and to evaluate their relationship with relevant professional and extra-professional factors.

An online questionnaire survey was administered to the psychiatry trainees affiliated in the four faculties of medicine of Tunisia (n = 120). It comprised, in addition to sociodemographic and professional variables, the interpersonal reactivity index, a multidimensional instrument that evaluates perspective taking, empathic concern, personal distress and fantasy. Other self-report measures were used to assess emotion regulation, social support and self-efficacy. Data were analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences.

The response rate was 71%. Descriptive statistics showed that personal distress’ scores were lower than the other empathy dimensions’ scores. Perspective taking scores were negatively correlated with emotion regulation difficulties. Personal distress scores were positively correlated with emotion regulation difficulties. Hierarchical regression analysis revealed that being an only child significantly contributed to perspective taking and having an extra-professional activity significantly contributed to less personal distress. Perceived stress, social support and having a master’s degree were significant predictors for empathic concern. Self-efficacy was a significant predictor of perspective taking, with emotion regulation difficulties mediating this relationship.

Interventions dedicated to improve psychiatry trainees’ empathy should focus not only on clinical practice and medical education but also on emotional support and recovery activities.

A unique feature of this study is the investigation of the potential impacts of emotion regulation difficulties and perceived self-efficacy on empathic abilities of psychiatry trainees.

To consider the power of psychological well-being, empathy and coping style in predicting staff attitudes towards young people in looked after accommodation, involved in or at risk of offending behaviour. The purpose of this paper is to understand more about staff attitudes which have a significant role in the care and rehabilitation of this client group.

Psychological well-being, empathy and coping style are discussed in terms of their impact on attitudes towards young people. The predictive power of each factor is considered using multiple regression analysis of participants’ responses on an adapted version of the Attitudes to Prisoners (ATP) scale, the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ), the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) and the Coping Styles Questionnaire (CSQ).

Multiple regression analyses showed that empathic concern (affective empathy) was the only factor predictive of attitudes towards young people. The paper discusses the applied implications for employers, including the possibility of empathy training for staff members and highlights the need for further consideration of the factors impacting on staff attitudes.

The outcome suggests that empathy may serve as a protective factor against the development of negative attitudes. This highlights the importance of fostering staff empathy and the possible use of empathy training.

The research findings question the robustness of the relationships between staff psychological well-being, empathy, coping styles and attitudes towards their client group. The outcome suggests that empathy may serve as a protective factor against the development of negative attitudes.

Role-taking, perspective taking, and empathy have developed through parallel literatures in sociology and psychology. All three concepts address the ways that people attune the self to others’ thoughts and feelings. Despite conceptual and operational overlap, researchers have yet to synthesize existing research across the three concepts. We undertake the task of theoretical synthesis, constructing a model in which role-taking emerges as a multidimensional process that includes perspective taking and empathy as component parts.

We review the literatures on role-taking, perspective taking, and empathy across disciplines. Focusing on definitions, measures, and interventions, we discern how the concepts overlap, how they are distinct, and how they work together in theoretically meaningful ways.

The review identifies two key axes on which each concept varies: the relative roles of affect and cognition, and the relative emphasis on self and structure. The review highlights the cognitive nature of perspective taking, the affective nature of empathy, and the structural nature of role-taking. In a move toward theoretical synthesis, we propose a definition that centers role-taking as a sociological construct, with perspective taking and empathy representing cognition and affect, respectively.

Role-taking is an important part of selfhood and community social life. It is a skill that varies in patterned ways, including along lines of status and power. Theoretical synthesis clarifies the process of role-taking and fosters the construction of effective interventions aimed at equalizing role-taking in interpersonal interaction.