Counselors' Spirituality and Empathy: Are they Compatible?

Abstract

The current research explores the constructs of spirituality and empathy in counselors. This exploratory research will attempt to assess counselors' self-reports of spirituality and empathy through the use of two separate instruments, an adapted Systems of Belief Inventory and adapted Interpersonal Reactivity Index. The purpose of this research is to assess if spirituality and empathy correspond with one another in a sample of 40 community counselors. Results indicate a relationship does not exists between counselors' spirituality and degree of empathy, r(38) = .026 p < .05. A post hoc test was conducted to uncover significant inter-item correlations. Of 91 possible correlations, 7 significant correlations were indicated and ranged from r(38) = .388, p > .05 to r(38) = .483, p > .01.