In their shoes: An ontological perspective on empathy in nursing practice

Abstract

Aims and objectives To present an enquiry into empathy as part of nursing ontology. The work aims to improve understanding of how empathy is developed and used in practice. Background Empathy is the ability to grasp the frame of reference of another. As such, empathy is a key feature of nursing practice involving self‐awareness and the use of emotion in interpersonal understanding. Method As part of a larger study into the commonality of emotion in nursing, thirty‐three nurses across a range of settings talked exhaustively about their experiences with empathy in the context of their relationships with service users. The interviews were audio‐taped and transcribed verbatim. The transcripts were analysed using Grounded Theory Method. Results Empathy was experienced as a libidinal entity motivating care dependent on a number of allied skills which formed a process: listening and echoing, knowing another's circumstances, imagining and representing the imagined perception within the self. Empathy was viewed as a tool for person‐centred care with two distinct levels: phenomena related and biography related. Sensitivity to care context in the use of nurses’ life experience also enabled empathy in an emotional kinship. Person‐centred care and empowerment were inhibited where empathy could not be achieved. Discussion The findings confirm the place of empathy in the hierarchy of embodied nursing skills and add to the current bank of knowledge on the sharing of emotions and the value of emotion to professional judgement. Conclusion Empathy is a tool with which to ascertain the cognitive and emotional perspective of others. Empathy's libidinal properties mean that shared understanding enhances care. Emotional kinship means that life experience can be harnessed for empathy in practice. Relevance to clinical practice Insight into the ontology of empathy provides a basis for the construction of teaching tools and learning objects for character and skill development in practice.

The effect of humour on nursing professionals’ psychological well‐being goes beyond the influence of empathy: a cross‐sectional study

“…Linking to this, there is great interest in elucidating the role of socially relevant variables that can modulate the relations between the maintenance of social interactions and PWB. Thus, it has been suggested that empathy, as a core psychological disposition mechanism could directly or indirectly affect interpersonal relationships in nursing work settings .…”

The empathy continuum: An evidenced‐based teaching model derived from an integrative review of contemporary nursing literature

“…Seven of the papers included in this review discussed the importance of empathic imagination. For example, Ozcan et al (, p. 135) referred to nursing students' ability to imagine themselves in another person's place and to look at events from that person's point of view; and McKinnon (, p. 3891) found that empathy requires the ability to imagine and represent the imagined perception within the self. Two papers (Cliffordson, ; Latimer et al, ) also included the notion of “fantasy,” one of the subscales of the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) (Davis, , p. 119), and described as the tendency to imaginatively transpose oneself into fictional situations or to identify with fictional characters.…”

“…The majority (n = 6) were literature reviews (Campbell-Yeo, Latimer, & Johnston, 2008;Dinkins, 2018;Hunt, Denieffe, & Gooney, 2017;Irving & Dickson, 2004;Kunyk & Olson, 2001;Määttä, 2006). Three were quasi-experimental exploratory singlegroup or two-group studies using quantitative measures and reporting findings from primary research such as surveys of students or nurses from different clinical backgrounds (Cliffordson, 2002;Latimer et al, 2017;Marcysiak, Dabrowska, & Marcysiak, 2014), and two were qualitative studies using interview, or interview and observation (McKinnon, 2018;Wiseman, 2007). The studies were conducted by authors from Canada (n = 4), UK (n = 3), Sweden (n = 2), Poland (n = 1) and USA (n = 1).…”

“…The perspectives (Beddoe & Murphy, 2004;Dinkins, 2018;Henry et al, 2011;Ozcan et al, 2011;Strekalova et al, 2017;Ward et al, 2012;Wiseman, 2007). In four of the papers, empathy was considered to be a form of communication competence comprised of a number of related techniques/skills, for example, active listening, echoing what is heard (Haley et al, 2017;McKinnon, 2018), attending and checking accuracy (Irving & Dickson, 2004;Sheehan et al, 2013).…”

“…Empathy was traditionally considered to be a personality characteristic, a dispositional trait or innate professional virtue, rather than a skill that could be taught and assessed (Mercer & Reynolds, ). Over time, definitions of empathy have broadened, and empathy has been increasingly recognised as more than a static “trait” but also a fluid “state” or skill which is amenable to change in response to personal experiences and educational interventions (McKinnon, ).…”