Touching the Other’s Life in Turkey: Empathy-Focused Group Work as a Randomized Controlled Trial

Purpose: This study evaluated the possible effects of empathy-focused group work on the participants, which is designed by bringing together cisgender heterosexual and LGBTQ+ people. Method: The study group of the research consists of 28 people (14 people in each of the experimental and control groups) who receive social service from a municipality in Istanbul, Turkey. The empathy-focused group work lasted 8 weeks, and pretest and posttest measurements were performed using the Affective and Cognitive Measure of Empathy (ACME) Scale and the Social Dominance Orientation Scale. Results: The result of this study showed that the participants were able to experience positive contact experiences in group work with heterogeneous groups, and an increase in the emotional and cognitive empathy levels of the participants and a decrease in their social dominance orientation. Conclusions: Implications for future research and professional practice are discussed.