Quarterly of Educational Measurement

Developing and Validation of the Emotional Helping Questionnaire

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

Saeedeh Zahed 1
Shirin Rashidi 2

1 PhD in Educational Psychology, Allameh Tabataba'i University, Tehran, Iran

2 Assistant Professor, Department of Philosophy of Islamic Education, Allameh Tabataba'i University, Tehran, Iran

https://doi.org/10.22054/jem.2024.77776.3522
Abstract
Emotional helping is a type of active emotional action that places emphasis on receptiveness towards the concerns of others and endeavors to enhance their emotional state. The primary objective of this study was to design and validate the Emotional Helping Questionnaire. The research methodology adopted in this study was descriptive-survey, and the statistical population consisted of psychology and educational sciences students from Allameh Tabataba'i University in the academic year of 1402-1401. A total of 200 participants were randomly selected through multi-stage sampling. The questionnaire was designed by drawing on the research literature and soliciting the views of experts, with 11 items divided into three categories: "Empathy," "Filling Loneliness," and "Giving Motivation and Hope," each of which contained four levels (Family members, friends, acquaintances/family, and strangers). The internal consistency of the questionnaire was examined through the Cronbach's alpha coefficient, and construct validity was confirmed through confirmatory factor analysis. The results indicated a good fit of the model with the data. The research revealed a strong relationship between exhibiting helping behavior and the degree of familiarity between the person in need and the helper. An examination of the acceptability coefficient of the items revealed that within each component, family members generally scored the highest, followed by friends. The family/acquaintances and strangers categories both demonstrated lower averages in comparison. The reliability of the questionnaire was also assessed and validated through retesting. Given that this study was conducted on students, it is suggested that the instrument be implemented in other population and age groups to further evaluate its psychometric properties.
Emotional helping is a type of active emotional action that places emphasis on receptiveness towards the concerns of others and endeavors to enhance their emotional state. The primary objective of this study was to design and validate the Emotional Helping Questionnaire. The research methodology adopted in this study was descriptive-survey, and the statistical population consisted of psychology and educational sciences students from Allameh Tabataba'i University in the academic year of 1402-1401. A total of 200 participants were randomly selected through multi-stage sampling. The questionnaire was designed by drawing on the research literature and soliciting the views of experts, with 11 items divided into three categories: "Empathy," "Filling Loneliness," and "Giving Motivation and Hope," each of which contained four levels (Family members, friends, acquaintances/family, and strangers). The internal consistency of the questionnaire was examined through the Cronbach's alpha coefficient, and construct validity was confirmed through confirmatory factor analysis. The results indicated a good fit of the model with the data. The research revealed a strong relationship between exhibiting helping behavior and the degree of familiarity between the person in need and the helper. An examination of the acceptability coefficient of the items revealed that within each component, family members generally scored the highest, followed by friends. The family/acquaintances and strangers categories both demonstrated lower averages in comparison. The reliability of the questionnaire was also assessed and validated through retesting. Given that this study was conducted on students, it is suggested that the instrument be implemented in other population and age groups to further evaluate its psychometric properties.

Keywords

Emotional Helping
Factor Analysis
Construct Validity
Internal Consistency
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Quarterly of Educational Measurement
Volume 16, Issue 62
Autumn 2025
Pages 7-28

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