Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2-1-2007

Comments

This article is the author’s final published version in Croatian Journal of Medicine, Volume 48, February 2007, Pages 81- 6.

The published version is available here. Copyright © Kane et al.

Abstract

AIM: To develop a brief scale for measuring patient's perceptions of their physician's empathic engagement and to provide preliminary evidence in support of aspects of the scale's psychometrics.

METHOD: Study comprised 225 patients, out of 436 patients (52% response rate) seen by 166 residents in the internal medicine residency program at the Jefferson Hospital Ambulatory Clinic as part of their ambulatory training at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital. A 5-item questionnaire entitled the Jefferson Scale of Patient's Perceptions of Physician Empathy was developed and administered to the study participants. Its factor structure, item-total score correlations, and correlations with several relevant criterion measures were examined.

RESULTS: Factor analysis indicated that the scale was measuring a single factor of emphatic engagement. Item scores and total scores of the Jefferson Scale of Patient's Perceptions of Physician Empathy yielded significant correlations with the American Board of Internal Medicine patient ratings form and with selected items from other relevant instruments measuring physicians' humanistic behavior and the appraisal of physicians' performance.

CONCLUSIONS: A brief scale for assessing physician empathy from the patients' perspective showed good psychometric characteristics and can be used for the assessment of patient outcomes.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

PubMed ID

17309143

Language

English

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