Evaluation and Revision of the Kiersma-Chen Empathy Scale

Abstract

This study aimed to provide further validity evidence for the KCES by analyzing data collected from multiple administrations of the KCES along with cognitive interviews of students in pharmacy and nursing programs to identify revisions of the Kiersma-Chen Empathy Scale: The KCES-Revised (KCES-R). Methods. De-identified data from previous KCES administrations were used for scale evaluation. Response process validity evidence was enhanced through cognitive interviews with 20 pre-pharmacy/pharmacy students at Cedarville University. After survey revisions, the cognitive interview process was repeated with 10 University of Wyoming nursing students.Results. Based on psychometric data and cognitive interviews, the KCES was revised as follows: (1) key components of cognitive and affective empathy were retained, (2) scaling was changed to reflect necessity and empathy ability, (3) negatively-worded items were removed, and (4) instrument was changed to two parallel subscales. Conclusion.This study used data from thousands of geographically and professionally diverse samples. Based on potential problems identified in quantitative analyses, cognitive interviews with nursing and pharmacy students were conducted, and modifications to the KCES were made. Further psychometric validation is needed regarding the KCES-R.

Enhancing Nursing Student Perception of Rural Healthcare through Innovative Simulation Education

“…Moreover, the 15-item KCES exhibited low reliability for the sample who completed the post-survey. This prompted us to explore using an 11-item version that omits the four reverse coded items that are noted to be confusing to participants in the literature (Aronson et al, 2022). In future studies, it may be more fruitful to use the adapted KCES-R, as it also includes a global and personal empathy subscale.…”

“…In a later publication including 1,793 participants, several revisions of the KCES enhanced its validity and reliability, resulting in the Kiersma-Chen Empathy Scale-Revised (KCES-R). The KCES-R omits the 4 reverse-scored items, as those items were deemed confusing (Aronson et al, 2022).…”

“…For this study, therefore, we computed an 11-item empathy scale omitting four reverse coded items (Aronson et al, 2022;Blakely et al, 2021). Items were answered using an agreement scale from 1-7, where 1 = strongly disagree and 7 = strongly agree.…”

“…The KCES-R, a valid and reliable 11-item measurement tool, could be used in future studies to measure pre-and post-intervention empathy before and after interventions. Using the KCES-R, scores can be computed using two sub-scales: global views on empathy in healthcare (7 items) and appraisal of personal empathy ability (4 items; Aronson et al, 2022). Because we used the original KCES scaling, the agreement scale language was used rather than options such as "unnecessary to extremely necessary" and "does not describe me to describes me extremely well," which was a limitation we could not address during data analysis.…”