Empathy Behavior Research Articles

Cultivating emergency physician behavioral empathy to improve emergency department care for pain and prescription opioid misuse.

Clinical empathy is the ability to understand the patient's experience, communicate that understanding, and act on it. There is evidence that patient and physician benefits are associated with more empathic communications. These include higher patient and physician satisfaction, improved quality of life, and decreased professional burnout for physicians, as well as increased patient compliance with care plans. Empathy appears to decline during medical school, residency training, and early professional emergency medicine practice; however, brief training has the potential to improve behavioral measures of empathy. Improvements in emergency department physician empathy seems especially important in managing patients at elevated risk for opioid‐related harm. We describe our conceptual approach to identifying and designing a practice improvement curriculum aimed to cultivate and improve behavioral empathy among practicing emergency physicians. Emergent themes from our preliminary study of interviews, focus groups, and workshops were identified and analyzed for feasibility, sensitivity to change, and potential impact. A conceptual intervention will address the following key categories: patient stigmatization, identification of problematic pain‐subtypes, empathic communication skills, interactions with family and friends, and techniques to manage inappropriate patient requests. The primary outcomes will be the changes in behavioral empathy associated with training. An assessment battery was chosen to measure physician psychosocial beliefs, attitudes and behavior, communication skills, and burnout magnitude. Additional outcomes will include opioid prescribing practice, naloxone prescribing, and referrals to addiction treatment. A pilot study will allow an estimation of the intervention impact to help finalize a curriculum suitable for web‐based national implementation.

Cognitive and emotional empathy in individuals at clinical high risk of psychosis.

Impairments of social cognition are considered core features of schizophrenia and are established predictors of social functioning. However, affective aspects of social cognition including empathy have far less been studied than its cognitive dimensions. The role of empathy in the development of schizophrenia remains largely elusive. Emotional and cognitive empathy were investigated in large sample of 120 individuals at Clinical High Risk of Psychosis (CHR-P) and compared with 50 patients with schizophrenia and 50 healthy controls. A behavioral empathy assessment, the Multifaceted Empathy Test, was implemented, and associations of empathy with cognition, social functioning, and symptoms were determined. Our findings demonstrated significant reductions of emotional empathy in individuals at CHR-P, while cognitive empathy appeared intact. Only individuals with schizophrenia showed significantly reduced scores of cognitive empathy compared to healthy controls and individuals at CHR-P. Individuals at CHR-P were characterized by significantly lower scores of emotional empathy and unspecific arousal for both positive and negative affective valences compared to matched healthy controls and patients with schizophrenia. Results also indicated a correlation of lower scores of emotional empathy and arousal with higher scores of prodromal symptoms. Findings suggest that the tendency to 'feel with' an interaction partner is reduced in individuals at CHR-P. Altered emotional reactivity may represent an additional, early vulnerability marker, even if cognitive mentalizing is grossly unimpaired in the prodromal stage. Different mechanisms might contribute to reductions of cognitive and emotional empathy in different stages of non-affective psychotic disorders and should be further explored.

الاختلافات بین الجنسین فی السلوک الأخلاقی التعاونی لأطفال الروضة فی منطقة القصیم . Gender-Related Differences in Cooperative Prosocial Behavior among Kindergarten Children in Al-Qassim.

هدفت هذه الدراسة إلى التعرف على الاختلافات بين الجنسين في السلوکيات الأخلاقية التعاونية، وکيفية ظهورها عند أطفال الروضة، وحددت الدراسة خمسة سلوکيات أخلاقية تعاونية، وهي: الاحترام، التعاطف، المساعدة، التواصل اللفظي؛ ولتحقيق هذا الهدف تم استخدام المنهج النوعي الاثنوجرافي، وتألفت عينة الدراسة من(16) طفلا وطفلة, تتراوح أعمارهم من (5-6) سنوات, (8) من الذکور، و(8) من الإناث في منطقة القصيم، تم اختيارهم بطريقة العينة القصدية، واستخدمت الملاحظة کأداة لجمع البيانات. وأظهرت نتائج الدراسة: أن غالبية السلوکيات الأخلاقية التعاونية عند الأطفال تنبع بطريقة عفوية دون تدخل الکبار، وأن ظهورها کان في فترات متنوعة، أکثرها فترة اللعب الخارجي، ثم الأرکان، ويليها الوجبة. وأوضحت نتائج الدراسة: أن مبادرة سلوک (التواصل اللفظي) جاءت في المرتبة الأولى من حيث عدد تکراره عند کلا الجنسين، ثم يليه في المرتبة الثانية مبادرة سلوک (الإيثار)، ثم مبادرة سلوک (المساعدة)، وبعده مبادرة سلوک (التعاطف)، وأخيرا مبادرة سلوک (الاحترام). کما أظهرت نتائج الدراسة: عدم وجود فروق بين الجنسين في السلوکيات الأخلاقية التعاونية الثلاثة: (التواصل اللفظي، الإيثار، الاحترام)، بينما ظهرت فروق في سلوک المساعدة لصالح الأطفال الذکور، وجاء سلوک التعاطف لصالح الأطفال الإناث. کما کشفت نتائج الدراسة: عن ظهور السلوک الأخلاقي التعاوني لکل المبادرات الخمس عند الجنسين بشکل أکثر نحو نفس الجنس، وتدني ظهوره نحو الجنس الآخر. وفي ضوء نتائج الدراسة، قدمت الباحثة مجموعة من التوصيات والمقترحات البحثية This study aimed to identify gender-related differences in cooperative Prosocial behaviors and how they are developed among kindergarten children. The study also identified five cooperative Prosocial behaviors: respect, empathy, helping, and verbal communication. The researcher used the ethnographic approach to achieve this goal. The sample consisted of 16 children, aged 5 to 6 years, (8) boys and (8) girls in Al-Qassim, were chosen according to the purposive sample method and the observation has been used as a tool to collect data. The results of this study showed that the majority of Prosocial behaviors is cooperative among children, which emanate spontaneously without intervention from adults. The study also highlighted the emergence of these Prosocial behaviors through various periods; the most was the outdoor play period then the corners followed by the meal. The results also showed that the verbal communication behavior initiative had been ranked first in terms of their number of frequencies between both male and female children, followed by initiative of altruism, initiative of helping behavior, and then initiative of sympathy behavior, finally, initiative of respect behavior. The study showed no gender differences in the three cooperative Prosocial behaviors mentioned above (verbal communication, altruism, and respect), while there were differences in the behavior of helping in favor of male children and the empathy behavior was in favor of female children. The results also revealed that the cooperative Prosocial behavior was strongly oriented toward the same gender and toward the other gender, to a lesser degree. Finally, the researcher has provided number of recommendations and suggestions for future research.

Storytelling in Medical Education: Narrative Medicine as a Resource for Interdisciplinary Collaboration.

Objective: The study intended to use narrative medicine study for interdisciplinary collaboration to let medical and healthcare students have a chance to interact with one another and listen to patients’ stories to enhance students’ reflective thinking, communication, empathy, and narrative medicine writing skills. Methods: A fifteen-week quasi-experimental design was used to examine the learning outcomes of the intervention. Two groups of students were randomly assigned as the experimental group (33 students) and the control group (32 students). Before and after the intervention, both groups had to fill in a Reflective Thinking Scale for Healthcare Students and Providers (RTS-HSP), Patient–Healthcare Provider Communication Scale (P-HCS), Empathy Scale in Patient Care (ES-PC), and Analytic Narrative Medicine Writing Scoring Rubric (ANMWSR). Results: The findings showed that on the reflective thinking scale, experimental group students had significantly higher reflective thinking posttest scores in “reflective skepticism,” “empathetic reflection,” and “critical open-mindedness,” but not in “self-examination.” As for patient–healthcare provider communication, they had significantly higher posttest scores in all “perception of trust and receptivity,” “patient-centered information giving,” “rapport building,” and “facilitation of patient involvement” factors. As for empathy, they had significant higher posttest scores in “behavioral empathy” and “affective empathy,” but not in “intelligent empathy.” In narrative medical writing skills, they had significant higher posttest scores in the “attention → representation → affiliation,” “depth of reflection,” “focus and context structure,” and “ideas and elaboration” sections, but not in the “language and conventions” section. Conclusion: The findings suggest that narrative medicine is worth recommending for interdisciplinary collaboration for healthcare education.

Development and Validation of the Chinese Inventory of Children’s Socioemotional Competence (CICSEC)

ABSTRACT Research findings This study explored the latent structure of socioemotional competence among Chinese kindergarten children in Hong Kong, China, developing and validating a culturally relevant, teacher-reported measure, the Chinese Inventory of Children’s Socioemotional Competence (CICSEC). Cross-sectional questionnaire data were collected on two samples of children from Hong Kong (N1 = 1,731; N2 = 475). Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses revealed that, children’s socioemotional competence was best represented by a two-level, four-factor model, a model that was invariant across child gender and grade levels. Four first-level factors, cognitive control, emotion expressivity, empathy and prosocial behaviors, and emotion regulation, were identified, and they were subsumed under a second-level, overarching factor: socioemotional competence. CICSEC demonstrated many good psychometric properties: The entire scale and the four subscales exhibited excellent internal consistencies. Moreover, it demonstrated criterion validity by being correlated positively with school readiness and negatively with problem behaviors. It also demonstrated incremental validity by explaining unique variance in school readiness, above and beyond an existing measure of children’s socioemotional competence. Practice or policy: Findings pointed to the advantages of using culturally specific, locally derived measures in assessing socioemotional competence and understanding child adjustment.

Working Class CEOs: Formation of Occupational Norms and Corporate Labor Policies

We examine the relation between the CEO’s childhood socioeconomic class and corporate labor policies. We find that CEOs raised in low socioeconomic class families are less likely to invest in employee friendly firm policies measured by several types of labor and employment litigation, including litigation by unions, and occupational safety measures. These results are confirmed by crowdsourced employee firm reviews across several workplace dimensions. Our findings are supported by the studies of within-family transmission of occupational knowledge and formation of occupational norms as well as development of empathy and altruistic behaviors in children.

정규수업 전 스포츠활동 참여시 공감능력 및 친사회적 행동의 관계 분석

정규수업 전 스포츠활동 참여시 공감능력 및 친사회적 행동의 관계 분석

Standing in Others' Shoes: Empathy and Positional Behavior.

Studies show that people are concerned with other people's consumption position in a varying degree with respect to the type of goods consumed and individual characteristics. Using both survey experiments and a large survey of subjective well-being (SWB) dataset, this paper aims to investigate the association between the degree of empathic capacity and positional concerns for consumption items involving pleasure and pain. The paper exploits both empathy quotient (EQ) and interpersonal reactivity index (IRI) measures of empathic capacity, i.e., dispositional empathy, which are sufficient measures capturing affective and cognitive aspects of empathy. Positional concerns are identified directly using a series of stated choice experiments and indirectly using the SWB approach. The main result of the paper is that positional concerns vary substantially with the levels of empathic capacity. Both EQ and IRI are found to be positively associated with positional concerns for “goods” (e.g., after-tax income, market value of a luxury car), reflecting a degree of self-regarded feelings and behavior to reduce personal distress, and negatively associated with positional concerns for “bads” (e.g., working hours and poverty rates), reflecting a degree of other-regarding feelings and behavior. The results are robust with respect to various checks including statistical specifications, reference groups, and omitted variables (e.g., prosocial behavior and competitivity) that could bias the results.

Genetic and circuit analysis of empathy behaviors in the mouse

Genetic and circuit analysis of empathy behaviors in the mouse

Supplemental Material for The Relationship Among Different Types of Arts Engagement, Empathy, and Prosocial Behavior

Supplemental Material for The Relationship Among Different Types of Arts Engagement, Empathy, and Prosocial Behavior

스포츠센터 강사들의 감정노동이 고객공감 및 고객시민행동에 미치는 영향

스포츠센터 강사들의 감정노동이 고객공감 및 고객시민행동에 미치는 영향

A big-five personality model-based study of empathy behaviors in clinical nurses

Empathy is the capacity to understand or feel what another person is experiencing from within the other person's frame of reference. Many studies have shown that enhancement of nurses' empathy capability can promote a good nurse-patient relationship. However, little research investigates the strategies to improve nurses' empathy abilities. This study investigated the characteristics of nurses' personality trait and empathy and explore the correlation between nurses' empathy and personality. A total of 471 nurses participated in this study. This study found that empathy was positively associated with conscientiousness and agreeableness, negatively associated with neuroticism. The personality traits were able to explain 37.5% of the overall variation in empathy capability, while agreeableness and conscientiousness tendency were significantly associated with empathy capability in nurses. Big five personality trait theory is a pretty good model to predict the empathy level of nurses, which could also play a positive role in improving the empathy ability, managing the satisfaction of patients and provision of quality and safe care customized to patients' needs and preferences. In addition, training programs emphasizing emotions, psychology and healthy personality should be strengthened to promote nurses' empathy.

Regular Aerobic Voluntary Exercise Increased Oxytocin in Female Mice: The Cause of Decreased Anxiety and Increased Empathy-Like Behaviors

Background:It is known that regular physical activity reduces anxiety. Low anxiety levels affect mood, emotions, and empathy. Oxytocin is a powerful hormone that regulates social interaction, sexual reproduction, maternal–infant bonding, milk release, empathy, and anxiety. Empathy is an important behavior in the living community; and also important for sportsmen during sportive competition and daily living life, because sportsmen are also role model of people.Aims:To investigate the effects of voluntary physical activity on oxytocin, anxiety, and empathy levels as well as the relationship between them.Study Design:Animal experiment.Methods:Male and female mice were made to exercise in running wheel cages for 6 weeks. Their empathy and anxiety levels were evaluated by using Helping Behavior test and elevated plus maze and open field test, respectively. And then the brain and blood oxytocin levels were measured.Results:Empathy-like behavior was improved in both genders of the exercise groups (door-opening time decreased in both genders of exercise groups, p for both=0.0001). As a response to exercise, both the brain and serum oxytocin levels increased in female mice (both of p=0.0001); however, in males, oxytocin levels increased in only the brain (p<0.05). Anxiety levels decreased in all the exercise groups (increased time spent in the middle area of open field test, both genders, p=0.002; increased time spent in the open arms of elevated plus maze test, females p=0.004, males p=0.0001). There was a strong negative correlation between serum oxytocin levels and door opening time of helping behavior equipment, and moderate negative correlation was found between the brain oxytocin levels and door-opening time of helping behavior equipment in females. However, there was no correlation between both the brain and serum oxytocin levels and empathy behavior in males. But there were very strong positive correlations between low anxiety indicators and both the brain and serum oxytocin levels in both the genders.Conclusion:Voluntary physical activity decreases anxiety and increases empathy-like behavior in mice; which is associated with increased oxytocin levels in female mice but not in male mice. Further research is required to investigate the mechanisms of exercise effect on anxiety and empathic brain pathways in males.

Dialogue intervention to youth amidst intractable conflict attenuates stress response to outgroup

Encounter with outgroup has been shown to elicit physiological stress response and when outgroup is perceived as threatening to one's own family and community, stress is higher. In such contexts, becoming familiar and learning to empathize with the other side may reduce stress. Building on the long-lasting Israeli-Palestinian conflict, we developed an eight-week group intervention focused on dialogue and empathy and tested it within a randomized controlled trial. Eighty-eight Israeli-Jewish and Arab-Palestinian adolescents (16-18 years) were randomly assigned to intervention or control groups. Before(T1) and after(T2) intervention, one-on-one interaction with outgroup member was videotaped, cortisol levels assessed five times during a 2.5-hour session involving exposure to outgroup stimuli, and adolescents were interviewed regarding national conflict. Intervention reduced cortisol response to social contact and reminders of outgroup (F = 4.92, p = .032, Eta2 = 0.109). This HPA-activity suppression was defined by two pathways. First, intervention had a direct impact on cortisol decrease; and second, intervention increased youth's behavioral empathy during one-on-one interaction with outgroup member and this empathic response mediated the effect of intervention on cortisol reduction. Adolescents' belief in the potential for reconciliation at T1 predicted greater empathy at T2. Our study provides the first evidence-based intervention for youth growing up amidst intractable conflict and demonstrates its impact on adolescents' physiological stress response to outgroup. Results contribute to research on the neurobiology of ingroup/outgroup relations, highlight the key role of dialogical empathy and social interactions for interventions targeting youth, and emphasize the importance of enhancing motivation for social inclusion for initiating positive behavioral and physiological processes.Clinical Trials Registry (NCT02122887; https://clinicaltrials.gov).

The Relationship Between Empathy and Aggressive Behavior: The Mediating Role of Anger

The Relationship Between Empathy and Aggressive Behavior: The Mediating Role of Anger

운동선수의 공감과 공격행동의 관계: 분노의 매개역할

목적: 본 연구는 운동선수의 공감과 공격행동의 관계에서 분노가 어떠한 매개효과가 나타나는지를 검증하고자 하였다. 방법: 이를 위해 본 연구에서는 고등학교 및 대학 운동선수 355명을 연구대상으로 선정하여, 공감, 분노, 공격행동을 측정하였다. 수집된 자료는 SPSS 22.0과 AMOS 22.0프로그램을 활용하여 빈도분석, 기술통계, 신뢰도 검증, 집중타당도, 판별타당도, 구조모형분석, 그리고 Bootstrap 방법을 활용하여 매개효과를 검증하였다 결과: 분석결과 첫째, 선수들이 인식한 공감은 분노에 부적인 영향 미쳤다(β=-.606, p<.001). 둘째, 분노는 공격행동에 정적인 영향 미쳤다(β=.270, p<.001). 셋째, 선수들이 인식한 공감은 공격행동에 부적인 영향 미쳤다(β=-.181, p<.05). 마지막으로 공감인식과 공격행동의 관계에서 분노는 부분매개효과가 나타났다(p<.01). 결론: 본 연구를 통 해 공감의 역할이 입증되었기 때문에 향후 스포츠 현장에서 구성원들 간의 관계를 개선하고 유지하기 위한 새로운 방법 제시와 선수들의 인성 교육을 준비하는 자료로 활용될 수 있을 것으로 기대된다.

The Relationship between Empathy and Antisocial-Prosocial Behaviours in Youth Field Hockey Players

The purpose of the current study was to investigate the prosocial and antisocial behaviours of youth field hockey players and their empathy skills, and also the effect of empathy on these behaviours. The sampling group of the study was comprised of 110 youth hockey players at the age of 13-18 chosen from various clubs throughout Turkey. Interpersonal reactivity index (IRI) and prosocial and antisocial behaviour scale (PABSS) in sport were used. Variance analyses, correlation, One-way Anova and Tukey tests were used. It was found that female had higher mean scores in the dimensions of perspective taking, fantasy and emphatic concern as the sub-dimensions of empathy compared to male players; female players also exhibited prosocial behaviours against their opponents at a higher level compared to male ones; as for females, they exhibited antisocial behaviours against the team and the opponent at a higher level compared to females.

감정표현 놀이프로그램을 활용한 소집단 활동이 자폐 스펙트럼장애 아동의 공감행동과 친사회적 행동에 미치는 영향

감정표현 놀이프로그램을 활용한 소집단 활동이 자폐 스펙트럼장애 아동의 공감행동과 친사회적 행동에 미치는 영향

Patient Perception of Empathy from Emergency Medicine Residents

Background and Hypothesis: This project analyzes the effect of years of training and gender of ED providers on patients’ perception of empathy from them. The project will also explore how patient characteristics may impact the patients’ perception of empathy from the ED providers. &#x0D; It is expected that women providers in their third year of training will exhibit higher scores of empathy. It has been previously demonstrated that white women with a college education have the worst perceptions of empathy from their ED providers. &#x0D; Experimental Design or Project Methods: Eligible patients from Eskenazi/Methodist Hospital, who have had a CT scan ordered, will be enrolled via convenience sample. Patient perceptions of physician empathy will be assessed via the “Empathy Behavior Survey for Patients” (EBS) and “Jefferson Scale of Patient Perceptions of Physician Empathy” (JSPPPE). Patient demographic data and information about the provider ordering the CT scan will be recorded as well. &#x0D; Results: On the EBS/JSPPE, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd year residents were given scores of 51/31.5, 51/31, and 51.5/33 respectively. Male residents were given a median score of 51 on the EBS and 32 on the JSPPPE. Female residents were given a median score of 50.5 and 31 on the JSPPPE. White female patients with a college education gave a score of 50.5 on the EBS and a 32.5 on the JSPPPE. &#x0D; Conclusion and Potential Impact: Years of training or gender do not seem to have an impact on patient perception of empathy nor do White female patients with a college education.

2.61 Relationship Between Emotion Regulation, Empathy, and Prosocial Behavior in Children With ADHD

2.61 Relationship Between Emotion Regulation, Empathy, and Prosocial Behavior in Children With ADHD