2.2.1. Toronto Empathy Questionnaire (TEQ)

The TEQ was developed to assess the general empathy factor or the “broadest level of empathy” with an emphasis on the emotional component, see [2]. This questionnaire consists of 16 items (half of them negatively worded) rated on a five-point Likert scale from “Never” (0) to “Always” (4). A higher score indicates higher empathy. Permission for translation and adaptation of the TEQ has been obtained from the scale author (Spreng). The translation process was based on the recommendations of WHO [28]—see Supplement one. We have reformulated the NWIs and administered the original negative items as well as their positively worded variants.