Gazda 1984

Gazda’s Empathy Scale (1984)

" Gazda’s Empathy Scale is a seven-point scale with 3.0 being a facilitative response. A 1.0 to 2.5 response does not convey understanding and respect for an individual. These responses range from a hurtful to a neutral response, whereas a 3.0, 3.5 or 4.0 response is empathic, conveys respect and forms a facilitative relationship. Defined on the empathy scale, a 3.0 response is one which communicates the primary feelings made by the client and includes the meaning the client attaches to these feelings.

In essence, a 3.0 response conveys understanding of how the client feels (affect) and the meaning (content) attached to those feelings. On all these scales empathy is rated by judges (independent observers) and several investigators have found that inter-judge reliability is a problem with these measurements (Layton 1979; Janzen 1984)." (BRINK 1991)