Physician empathy and patient enablement: survey in the Portuguese primary health care

Abstract

Background Empathy is the capacity to understand and resonate with the experiences of other people. Patient enablement is the degree to which a patient feels strengthened in terms of being able to deal with, understand and manage their disease. Methods Secondary cross-sectional analysis of existing data from 2 independent datasets (456 primary health care patients), with the application of two validated questionnaires, Jefferson Scale of Patient Perceptions of Physician Empathy (JSPPPE) and Patient Enablement Instrument (PEI). Objective Evaluate medical empathy and patients’ enablement after consultation with their family doctors and to verify if there was an association between these two concepts. Results The median value of JSPPPE-VP score was 6.60 (interquartile range 1.00) and of PEI/ICC score was of 1.83 (interquartile range 0.67). Regarding empathy (JSPPPE-VP), patients taking chronic medication had a slight but significantly higher median score than patients not taking them (6.70 versus 6.60, P = 0.049), although regression modelling did not confirm any relevant predictor of JSPPPE-VP score. Regarding enablement (PEI/ICC), we found significantly higher scores on younger patients, as well as, on more educated and professionally active ones (P < 0.001). Multivariable linear regression and Poisson regression modelling confirmed such variables as statistically significant potential predictors. Conclusions A significant positive association was found between empathy score (JSPPPE-VP) and enablement score (PEI/ICC), when adjusted to sociodemographic cofactors. On this linear regression model, age category and educational level were also significantly associated with empathy score, with the same pattern found on bivariate analysis.

Physician empathy in patient empowerment … and patient empowerment in physician empathy

“…Studies have demonstrated that physicians can facilitate active participation by their patients, 5 and, in particular, that higher perceived physician empathy is associated with increased patient enablement 6 . However, does the manner by which patient engagement takes form have implications on physician empathy?…”