A systematic review of tests of empathy in medicine
Joanne M Hemmerdinger,
Samuel DR Stoddart
Richard J Lilford
25 July 2007
Comments:
This page still needs to be processed, The list of measurements needs to be incorporated into the MEASUREMENTS page.
Empathy is frequently cited as an important attribute in physicians and some groups have expressed a desire to measure empathy either at selection for medical school or during medical (or postgraduate) training. In order to do this, a reliable and valid test of empathy is required. The purpose of this systematic review is to determine the reliability and validity of existing tests for the assessment of medical empathy.
A systematic review of research papers relating to the reliability and validity of tests of empathy in medical students and doctors. Journal databases (Medline, EMBASE, and PsycINFO) were searched for English-language articles relating to the assessment of empathy and related constructs in applicants to medical school, medical students, and doctors.
From 1147 citations, we identified 50 relevant papers describing 36 different instruments of empathy measurement. As some papers assessed more than one instrument, there were 59 instrument assessments. 20 of these involved only medical students, 30 involved only practising clinicians, and three involved only medical school applicants. Four assessments involved both medical students and practising clinicians, and two studies involved both medical school applicants and students.
Eight instruments demonstrated evidence of reliability, internal consistency, and validity. Of these, six were self-rated measures, one was a patient-rated measure, and one was an observer-rated measure.
A number of empathy measures available have been psychometrically assessed for research use among medical students and practising medical doctors. No empathy measures were found with sufficient evidence of predictive validity for use as selection measures for medical school. However, measures with a sufficient evidential base to support their use as tools for investigating the role of empathy in medical training and clinical care are available.
Tests
Additional file 2: Empathy tests identified.
A summary of the tests identified by the review, illustrating the presence or absence of evidence concerning reliability and validity.
ACGME- Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education
ARS- Affect Reading Scale
ATH- Attitudes towards Humanities
BEES- Balanced Emotional Empathy Scale
BEM - Burn’s Empathy Measure
BLRI- Barrett-Lennard Relationship Inventory
CACS- Coordination and Competence System
CARE- Consultation and Relational Empathy Measure
CMQ- Career Motivation Questionnaire
CSA IPS- Clinical Skills Assessment and Interpersonal Skills
DIRI- Davis’ Interpersonal Reactivity Index
DIRI (R) – Revised version of DIRI
ECCS- Empathic Communication Coding System
ECRS- Empathy Construct Rating Scale
ECRS ADAPTED- Empathy Construct Rating Scale (With half of the original version of 84 items)
EI- Emotional Intelligence
EIS – Emotional Intelligence Scale
EMP- Empathy Scale
ES- 10 Item Empathy Scale
ESM – Emotional Speech Measure
ET- Empathy Test
FHCS – Four Habits Coding Scheme
FY SCALE- Femininity Scale of the Personal Attributes Questionnaire
GE-PAQ- German Extended Personal Attributes Questionnaire
HRI- Helping Relationship Inventory
IPS- Interpersonal Skills Rating Scale
JSPE- Jefferson Scale of Physician Empathy
LCIAS – Liverpool Clinical Interaction Analysis Scheme
MAAS- Maastricht Anamnestic Scoring List- Global
MCI- Medical Communication Index
MCRS- Medical Condition Regard Scale
MCSDS- Marlowe Crowne Social Desirability Scale
MIPS- Medical Interaction Processing System
MPCC – Measure of Patient-Centred Communication
MSQ(M) – Maxwell-Sullivan Questionnaire (modified)
NACE – Narcissism, Aloofness, Confidence, Empathy scale
OSCE- Objective Structured Clinical Examination
QPP- Quality from the Patient’s Perspective Questionnaire
RES- Reynolds’ Empathy Scale
RIAS- Roter Interaction Analysis System
RSE- Rosenberg Self Esteem Scale
SOC-13- Sense of Coherence Scale
TFA- Tolerance for Ambiguity
TMMS- Trait Meta-Mood Scale.
Empathy tests with evidence concerning reliability, internal consistency, and validity
Medical Condition Regard Scale (MCRS)
Jefferson Scale of Physician Empathy (JSPE)
Davis’ Interpersonal Reactivity Index (DIRI)
Empathy Test (ET)
Empathy Construct Rating Scale (ECRS)
Balanced Emotional Empathy Scale (BEES)
Consultation and Relational Empathy (CARE)
Four Habits Coding Scheme (FHCS)
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