The Relationship Between the Hearing Distressing Voices Simulation and Changes in Empathy Among Master’s Students in Counseling

• Main Author: Strozier, Jeffrey G
• Format: Others
• Published: ScholarWorks@UNO 2018
• Subjects: auditory hallucinations; schizophrenia; serious mental illness; stigma; recovery model; empathy; Counselor Education
• Online Access: https://scholarworks.uno.edu/td/2496; https://scholarworks.uno.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3575&context=td

The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that the hearing distressing voices simulation training, Developing Empathy for the Lived Experience of Psychiatric Disability: A Simulation of Hearing Distressing Voices (HDVS), developed by Patricia E. Deegan, Ph.D., will affect counseling students’ empathy for clients diagnosed with schizophrenia, as measured by the Jefferson Scale of Empathy – Health Professions Students version (JSE-HPS). The experimental design was a quasi-experimental, one-group, pre-test/ post-test, and the Jefferson Scale of Empathy – Health Professions Students version was used to measure empathy. A total of 55 participants were drawn from a convenience sample of master’s counseling students from CACREP-accredited programs in southern Louisiana and Chicago, Illinois. A two tailed, paired samples t-test revealed that there was a significant difference (pM=116.11, SD=9.76) and post-test empathy scores (M=121.85, SD=8.9). This study suggests the HVDS is an effective tool to assist counseling students with developing empathy, decreasing stigmatizing attitudes, and avoiding disempowerment and marginalization within the counseling relationship.