Understanding the one you love: A longitudinal assessment of an empathy training program for couples in romantic relationships

Forty-eight couples in romantic relationships volunteered to participate in a 10-hour empathy training program. The five sessions of the program were briefly described and empirical support was given for each component of the training. Couples were randomly assigned to either a treatment or wait listed comparison group. Both groups completed the five-week training program at different times. The change in empathy was assessed by several repeated measures analyses of variance. Scores on three empathy measures improved in both groups over the six month period. A change in the perceptions of a partner's empathy at six months was positively related to relationship satisfaction at the six month follow-up.