Group Counseling of Values Clarification to Increase Middle School Students’ Empathy

• Published in: Psicología educativa (Madrid) Vol. 25; no. 2; pp. 169 - 174
• Main Authors: Gunawan, I Made Sonny, Wibowo, Mungin E., Purwanto, Edy, Sunawan, Sunawan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Madrid Colegio Oficial de Psicólogos de Madrid 01.01.2019
• Subjects: Clarification; Cognition & reasoning; Cognitive ability; Counseling; Elementary School Students; Emotions; Empathy; Group counseling; High School Students; Learning; Learning Processes; Middle school students; Middle schools; Morality; Questionnaires; Research methodology; Role play; Role playing; Teaching Methods; Técnica de modelado; Values; Values Clarification; Variance analysis
• ISSN: 1135-755X; 2174-0526
• DOI: 10.5093/psed2019a5

This research compared the effectiveness of two techniques for administering group counseling focused on values clarification: modeling vs. role play. Effectiveness was measured in terms of participants’ empathy at three time points, using a mixed factorial design. Participants were 40 students from a middle school in Mataram, Indonesia, who completed the Questionnaire of Cognitive and Affective Empathy (QCAE). Results of three ways mixed ANOVA showed that the two techniques of administering group counseling focused on values clarification were both effective in increasing participants’ empathy, although modeling appeared to be the most effective approach and is likely to be more efficient. Female students’ empathy was higher than males’, but there was no evidence that one group counseling technique worked better for girls than for boys. The results are discussed in terms of their implications for future studies and intervention.