| Empathy is a complex, multidimensional process that requires counselors to engage and maintain both intrapersonal awareness and sustained interpersonal engagement to develop a genuine and effectual therapeutic relationship. This study investigated the effects of an Empathy-Enhanced Deliberate Psychological Education (E2DPE) intervention designed to enhance empathy, promote postconventional reasoning and develop higher complex conceptualizations for first-year Master's students enrolled in a CACREP accredited counselor education program. This study examined the effects of a six-month E2DPE beginning counseling students' empathy competency as measured by the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (Davis, 1980), postconventional reasoning as measured by the Defining Issues Test-2 (Rest, Narvaez, Bebeau & Thoma, 1999), and conceptual complexity as measured by the Paragraph Completion Method (Hunt, Butler, Noy & Rosser, 1978).;This study implemented a quasi-experimental pre-test, post-test non-equivalent control group design. Statistical findings showed significant increases for both groups in conceptual complexity as a result of six months in a CACREP program, however, neither conceptual complexity, postconventional reasoning nor empathy were significantly influenced by the E2DPE. While the E2DPE did not reach significant effects, the process described by the treatment facilitators and supervisors suggest that raising multidimensional factors of empathy and postconventional moral reasoning in beginning counseling students scoring high on these pretest measures may be challenging. In addition, capturing cognitive developmental changes or detecting changes in state empathy for counseling students experiencing cognitive disequilibrium may prove difficult in only six months. Finally, future recommendations for raising counseling students' developmental growth through cultivating empathy are provided. |
