Reliability and validity of the Dutch version of the Consultation and Relational Empathy Measure in primary care.

Empathy is an essential skill in doctor-patient communication with positive effects on compliance, patient satisfaction and symptom duration. There are no validated patient-rated empathy measures available in Dutch. To investigate the validity and reliability of a Dutch version of the Consultation and Relational Empathy (CARE) Measure, a widely used 10-item patient-rated questionnaire of physician empathy. After translation and back translation, the Dutch CARE Measure was distributed among patients from 19 general practitioners in 5 primary care centers. Tests of internal reliability and validity included Cronbach's alpha, item total correlations and factor analysis. Seven items of the QUality Of care Through the patient's Eyes (QUOTE) questionnaire assessing 'affective performance' of the physician were included in factor analysis and used to investigate convergent validity. Of the 800 distributed questionnaires, 655 (82%) were returned. Acceptability and face validity were supported by a low number of 'does not apply' responses (range 0.2%-11.9%). Internal reliability was high (Cronbach's alpha 0.974). Corrected item total correlations were at a minimum of 0.837. Factor analysis on the 10 items of the CARE Measure and 7 QUOTE items resulted in two factors (Eigenvalue > 1), the first containing the CARE Measure items and the second containing the QUOTE items. Convergent construct validity between the CARE Measure and QUOTE was confirmed with a modest positive correlation (r = 0.34, n = 654, P < 0.001). The findings support the preliminary validity and reliability of the Dutch CARE Measure. Future research is required to investigate divergent validity and discriminant ability between doctors.

van Dijk I ，Scholten Meilink Lenferink N ，Lucassen PL ，Mercer SW ，van Weel C ，Olde Hartman TC ，Speckens AE ... -  《-》

Validity and reliability of the Japanese version of the CARE measure in a general medicine outpatient setting.

Aomatsu M ，Abe H ，Abe K ，Yasui H ，Suzuki T ，Sato J ，Ban N ，Mercer SW ... -  《-》

Reliability and validity of the Chinese version of the CARE Measure in a primary care setting in Hong Kong.

Fung CS ，Hua A ，Tam L ，Mercer SW ... -  《-》

Reliability and validity of the Spanish (Spain) version of the consultation and relational empathy measure in primary care.

Empathy is an essential competence in the medical field. There are no validated patient-rated empathy measures in Spanish (Spain). The Consultation and Relational Empathy (CARE) measure is a widely used patient-rated measure of physician empathy. To analyse the reliability and validity of the Spanish (Spain) version of the CARE measure in primary care. After translation, back translation and pilot testing, a convenient sample of 369 patients recruited through 21 primary care physicians in five primary care centres in Pamplona (Navarre, Spain) completed the Spanish (Spain) CARE (Sp-CARE) measure. The number of 'does not apply' or blank responses was calculated to assess acceptability. We analysed internal reliability by means of Cronbach's alpha and ordinal alpha and homogeneity with corrected item-total correlations. The construct validity was examined by confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and concurrent validity by Spearman's correlation. We observed high acceptability; only 37 (1%) responses were marked 'does not apply' and only 3 (0.08%) were left blank. Cronbach's alpha and ordinal alpha for the Sp-CARE measure were 0.953 and 0.970, respectively, and all corrected item-total correlations exceeded the accepted cut of 0.30, demonstrating high internal reliability and homogeneity. CFA corroborated the one-factor structure proposed in the original version. The Sp-CARE measure total score was significantly correlated with overall patient satisfaction (Spearman's rho 0.45, P < 0.001). The results support the reliability and validity of the Sp-CARE measure as a patient-rated empathy measure in the primary care setting.

García Del Barrio L ，Rodríguez-Díez C ，Martín-Lanas R ，Costa P ，Costa MJ ，Díez N ... -  《-》

Measuring empathic, person-centred communication in primary care nurses: validity and reliability of the Consultation and Relational Empathy (CARE) Measure.

Bikker AP ，Fitzpatrick B ，Murphy D ，Mercer SW ... -  《BMC Family Practice》