David Shannon, Larson Mary
J Sport Rehabil. 2018 Jan 1;27(1):8-15. doi: 10.1123/jsr.2016-0085. Epub 2018 Jan 17.
Health care practitioners face increasing expectations to provide patient-centered care. Communication skills, specifically empathy, are critical in the provision of patient-centered care. Past work correlates empathy with improved patient satisfaction, compliance, and treatment outcomes. In particular, a predictive relationship exists between clients' ratings of their clinician's empathy and treatment outcomes. There is a dearth of studies examining empathy using qualitative methodology and factors of empathy in athletic training.
To gain an understanding of athletes' perceptions of empathy in the patient-clinician relationship.
Qualitative interviews were completed using grounded-theory techniques.
A quiet office.
A typical, purposeful sample of 15 college-age Division I student-athletes (8 female, 7 male; 19.3 ± 1.2 y) from a variety of sports (football, wrestling, volleyball, baseball, etc) participated.
Researchers utilized an interview protocol designed to understand the factors of empathy related to athletic training. The interview protocol established a concept of empathy to help facilitate discussion of ideas. Data were transcribed, coded, and analyzed for themes and patterns using grounded-theory techniques. Trustworthiness of the data was ensured using an external auditor, member checks, and methods triangulation.
Five themes described empathy: advocacy, communication, approachability, access, and competence. Advocacy was described as the athletic trainer (AT) representing the patient. Communication was the ability to listen reflectively; approachability emerged as the comfort and personal connection the patient felt with the AT. Access and technical competence were bridges required for the development of empathy.
Providing patient-centered care facilitated by developing good patient-clinician relationships is critical in enabling the best treatment outcomes. ATs portray empathy through advocacy, communication, and approachability. Empathy improves the patient-clinician relationship and is critical for patient-centered care delivered by ATs.
医疗保健从业者面临着越来越高的期望，即提供以患者为中心的护理。沟通技巧，特别是同理心，在提供以患者为中心的护理中至关重要。过去的研究将同理心与提高患者满意度、依从性和治疗效果联系起来。特别是，患者对临床医生同理心的评分与治疗效果之间存在预测关系。缺乏使用定性方法研究同理心以及运动训练中同理心因素的研究。
了解运动员对医患关系中同理心的看法。
采用扎根理论技术完成定性访谈。
一间安静的办公室。
从各种运动项目（足球、摔跤、排球、棒球等）中选取了15名大学一年级的学生运动员（8名女性，7名男性；年龄19.3±1.2岁）作为典型的、有目的的样本参与。
研究人员使用了一个访谈协议，旨在了解与运动训练相关的同理心因素。该访谈协议建立了同理心的概念，以帮助促进观点的讨论。使用扎根理论技术对数据进行转录、编码，并分析主题和模式。通过外部审核员、成员核对和方法三角验证确保数据的可信度。
五个主题描述了同理心：支持、沟通、可接近性、可及性和能力。支持被描述为运动训练师（AT）代表患者。沟通是反思性倾听的能力；可接近性表现为患者对AT感受到的舒适感和个人联系。可及性和技术能力是同理心发展所需的桥梁。
通过建立良好的医患关系来提供以患者为中心的护理对于实现最佳治疗效果至关重要。AT通过支持、沟通和可接近性来展现同理心。同理心改善了医患关系，对于AT提供以患者为中心的护理至关重要。
