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. 2023 Nov 30;18(11):e0292865. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0292865

Table 1. The operationalization and original items of the five components of feeling heard.

The item numbering will be used to refer to the specific items in this results section. The last column contains the item numbers that were part of the final scale.

Component Operationalization Initial items Item number Items in the final scale
Voice My experience of being able to express myself freely, that is, being able to say what I want to say. …I could say what I really wanted to say 2 2
…I could express my thoughts 3
…I felt inhibited to say what I wanted to say 4
Attention My impression that the other focused their attention on what I said (my voice). the other was more concerned with him/herself than with what I said 5 5, 6
…the other listened to what I said 6
…the other paid attention to what I said 7
Empathy My perception that the other tried to take my perspective and emotionally understand me. …the other tried to put him/herself in my shoes 8 8, 9
…the other was insensitive to my thoughts and feelings 9
…the other was empathetic 10
Respect My feeling that the other valued what I said (my voice) and me as a person. In other words, I am worth listening to. …the other showed genuine interest in me 11 13
…the other took me seriously 12
…the other treated me with respect 13
Common ground My impression that we could take each other’s perspective and understand each other’s point of view …we looked at things differently 14 15
…we understood each other 15
…we were on the same wavelength 16

Note. Reverse coded items are italicized. We show the items in singular form (i.e., “the other), some of the items were rephrased to plural form (i.e., “the others”) when participants described a conversation with more than one other person.