Empathy: A Quality of An Effective Group Leader

Summary —This study was undertaken in response to questions about the therapeutic characteristics of group facilitators and the effect a facilitator's behavior has on group participants. The investigation focused on the group facilitator's measured level of accurate empathy and its effects on expression of empathy within the group as well as its effects on the levels of individual depth of self-exploration. An ancillary question was posed regarding group cohesion as a possible variable of interest. The results indicate that groups facilitated by leaders scoring higher on the Truax Scale of Accurate Empathy demonstrate significantly higher levels of empathy and depth of self-exploration than those facilitated by leaders scoring lower on the Truax scale. There was no significant difference between groups with respect to group cohesion.