Effectiveness of empathy in general practice: a systematic review
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TLDR
There is a good correlation between physician empathy and patient satisfaction and a direct positive relationship with strengthening patient enablement, and empathy lowers patients' anxiety and distress and delivers significantly better clinical outcomes.Abstract:
Background Empathy as a characteristic of patient–physician communication in both general practice and clinical care is considered to be the backbone of the patient–physician relationship Although the value of empathy is seldom debated, its effectiveness is little discussed in general practice This literature review explores the effectiveness of empathy in general practice Effects that are discussed are: patient satisfaction and adherence, feelings of anxiety and stress, patient enablement, diagnostics related to information exchange, and clinical outcomes Aim To review the existing literature concerning all studies published in the last 15 years on the effectiveness of physician empathy in general practice Design and setting Systematic literature search Method Searches of PubMed, EMBASE, and PsychINFO databases were undertaken, with citation searches of key studies and papers Original studies published in English between July 1995 and July 2011, containing empirical data about patient experience of GPs’ empathy, were included Qualitative assessment was applied using Giacomini and Cook’s criteria Results After screening the literature using specified selection criteria, 964 original studies were selected; of these, seven were included in this review after applying quality assessment There is a good correlation between physician empathy and patient satisfaction and a direct positive relationship with strengthening patient enablement Empathy lowers patients’ anxiety and distress and delivers significantly better clinical outcomes Conclusion Although only a small number of studies could be used in this search, the general outcome seems to be that empathy in the patient–physician communication in general practice is of unquestionable importanceread more
Citations
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Compassion: a scoping review of the healthcare literature
Shane Sinclair,Jill M. Norris,Shelagh McConnell,Harvey Max Chochinov,Thomas F. Hack,Neil A. Hagen,Susan McClement,Shelley Raffin Bouchal +7 more
TL;DR: This review identifies the limited empirical understanding of compassion in healthcare, highlighting the lack of patient and family voices in compassion research.
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Interventions to cultivate physician empathy: a systematic review.
TL;DR: Initial support for the notion that physician empathy can be enhanced through interventions is provided through more randomized, controlled studies with valid measures, explicit reporting of intervention strategies and procedures, and long-term efficacy assessments.
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Outcomes of MBSR or MBSR-based interventions in health care providers: A systematic review with a focus on empathy and emotional competencies.
TL;DR: Evidence regarding the effects of MBSR in professionals suggests this intervention is associated with improvements in burnout, stress, anxiety and depression and Improvements in empathy are also suggested but no clear evidence is currently available on emotional competencies.
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Cognitive and affective reassurance and patient outcomes in primary care: A systematic review
Tamar Pincus,Nicola Holt,Steven Vogel,Martin Underwood,Richard Savage,David A. Walsh,Stephanie Jane Caroline Taylor +6 more
TL;DR: There is support for the notion that cognitive reassurance is more beneficial than affective reassurance, and a tentative model based on these findings is presented, which proposes priorities for future research.
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Effects of empathic and positive communication in healthcare consultations: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Jeremy Howick,Andrew Moscrop,Alexander Mebius,Thomas R. Fanshawe,George Lewith,Felicity L. Bishop,Patriek Mistiaen,Nia Roberts,Eglė Dieninytė,Xiao-Yang Hu,Paul Aveyard,Igho Onakpoya +11 more
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors show that patients who enhance how they express empathy and create positive expectations of benefit could improve patient outcomes, but the evidence in this area has not been recently syn...
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