Development of an empathy scale in nurses

OBJECTIVE: To develop an empathy scale to measure the empathy in nurses. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The sample of the study were collected between March and May in 2023 from 720 nurses working in private and state hospitals in İstanbul. Both exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis were carried out. IBM SPSS and AMOS were utilized for statistical analyses. RESULTS: KMO and Bartlett's test values of scale showed that the dataset was convenient for factor analyses (KMO = 0.94, Chi-Square = 9683.89, df = 595). In exploratory factor analysis, the 16 items comprising scale were distributed in three subscales. The confirmatory factor analysis revealed that the scale was in sufficient model fit. Cronbach's alpha of the total scale was 0.91. CONCLUSION: Empathy scale is a valid and reliable measurement tool to evaluate the empathy levels of nurses in three subscales: Emotional Empathy, Cognitive Empathy and Compassionate Empathy. The scale is a valuable tool for quality nursing care and contributes to the definition of strategies that advance the quality of nursing care.