Evaluation of the "Consultation and Relational Empathy" (CARE) measure by means of Rasch-analysis at the example of cancer patients.
OBJECTIVE
The aims of this study are: (1) analysis of unidimensionality of the German version of the "Consultation and Relational Empathy" (CARE) measure and (2) identification of moderating variables affecting the scale structure.


METHODS
The CARE-measure was evaluated by means of Rasch-analysis in a sample of N=326 cancer patients. Association of diagnosis and treatment as well as patients' characteristics was analyzed by person-fit measures and Differential Item Functioning.


RESULTS
Nine of the original 10 CARE items fit to the Rasch-model. For breast and prostate cancer, as well as for patients taking complementary and alternative medicine treatment, item biases affect the scale structure. Furthermore, older patients and patients with higher social support exhibit substantial deviations from model predictions.


CONCLUSIONS
Only the nine-item version of the CARE-measure allows for the unidimensional assessment of physician empathy. Especially for specific diagnosis and treatment groups, the CARE-items indicate variations in the underlying latent construct of physician empathy.


CONCLUSIONS
The CARER-measure provides a theory-based and psychometrically sound basis for the assessment of PE. It can be used to enhance the fairness of the assessment and to further identify valuable information about the influence of patient characteristics on the structure of the construct PE.
Department of Research Methods, Institute of Psychology, University of Education Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany. markus.wirtz@ph-freiburg.de
Markus
M
Wirtz
Maren
M
Boecker
Thomas
T
Forkmann
Melanie
M
Neumann
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004645:Empathy; D005194:Family Practice / Q000592:standards*; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015233:Models, Statistical; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000523:psychology*; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D011594:Psychometrics; D012017:Referral and Consultation / Q000592:standards; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult