Relationships between nurse-expressed empathy, patient-perceived empathy and patient distress.
It is increasingly important that nursing care be associated with measurable patient outcomes. A correlational study examined relationships between nurse-expressed empathy and two patient outcomes: patient perceived empathy and patient distress. Subjects (N = 140) were randomly selected from RNs and patients on medical and surgical units in two urban, acute care hospitals. Nurse-subjects (N = 70) completed two measures of nurse-expressed empathy: the Behavioral Test of Interpersonal Skills and the Staff-Patient Interaction Response Scale. Patient-subjects (N = 70) completed the Profile of Mood States, the Multiple Affect Adjective Checklist, and the Barrett-Lennard Relationship Inventory. Findings indicated a negative relationship (r = .71, p < .001) between a set of empathy variables and a set of patient distress variables and a positive relationship between nurse-expressed and patient perceived empathy (r = .37-.47, p < .05). This study is one of the first to link behavioral measures of nurse empathy to patient outcomes.
University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada.
J K
JK
Olson
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009723:Nurse-Patient Relations; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012938:Social Perception; D012944:Social Support; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000523:psychology*