Validation of reliability and validity of the Chinese version of the active-empathic listening scale

Hang Guo; Lemin Lin; Ziming Jia; Jiaying Sun; Zisen Zhuang; Lisa Duan; Jiangnan Sun

doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2022.938461

Validation of reliability and validity of the Chinese version of the active-empathic listening scale

Front Psychiatry. 2022 Aug 23:13:938461. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2022.938461. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Hang Guo¹, Lemin Lin¹, Ziming Jia², Jiaying Sun³, Zisen Zhuang⁴, Lisa Duan⁵, Jiangnan Sun^{4

5}

Affiliations

¹ Postgraduate Group, Logistics University of People's Armed Police Force, Tianjin, China.
² The Health Team of the Fifth Mobile Detachment of the First Mobile Corps of the Armed Police Force, Dingzhou, China.
³ College of Field Engineering, Army Engineering University of People's Liberation Army of China, Nanjing, China.
⁴ Department of Psychology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou, China.
⁵ Institute for Military Psychological Efficacy Evaluation and Stress Intervention, Characteristic Medical Center of Chinese People's Armed Police Force, Tianjin, China.

Abstract

Background: Active-empathic listening (AEL) is the active and emotional involvement of a listener that can take place in at least three key stages of the listening process. Bodie has developed and validated a self-reported, 11-item, three-factor active-empathic listening scale (AELS) in English with good reliability (Cronbach's alpha = 0.86) to assess AEL abilities. Nevertheless, a Chinese version of the AELS had not been established and validated yet.

Objective: The objective of the present study was to examine the reliability and validity of the Chinese version of the AELS.

Methods: After translating the scale into the Chinese version, 834 college students completed the test. After 4 weeks, 206 participants were tested again on the Chinese AELS to examine retest reliability. The critical ratio method and the item-total correlations were used for the item analysis. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) were performed to examine the construct validity. The internal consistency of the scale was analyzed with Cronbach's alpha and McDonald's Omega. Interclass correlation coefficient (ICC) was used to examine the scale's retest reliability. The Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) was used to examine the convergent validity. Pearson correlation analysis was conducted.

Results: Each item of the Chinese AELS had a good discrimination, and the item-total correlation of each item ranged from 0.51 to 0.73. EFA extracted three factors with characteristic root values greater than 1, which could explain 70.72% of the total variance. CFA indicated an adequate fit of the three-factor model (χ²/df = 2.250, root mean square error of approximation [RMSEA] = 0.055, the comparative fit index [CFI] = 0.971, the Tucker-Lewis index [TLI] = 0.959, and the goodness of fit index [GFI] = 0.959). The internal consistency reliability was acceptable (sensing: α = 0.79/ω = 0.78, processing: α = 0.83/ω = 0.83, responding: α = 0.79/ω = 0.79, and AELS: α = 0.87/ω = 0.87). Retest reliability of the scale at 4-week intervals by an ICC was 0.563. The Chinese AELS was significantly correlated with each dimension of IRI.

Conclusion: The reliability and validity of the Chinese AELS met the basic psychometrics requirements. Therefore, the scale can be potentially used to assess the active empathic listening abilities of people in China.

Keywords: Chinese version; active listening; active-empathic listening scale (AELS); reliability; validity.