Howick Jeremy, Bennett-Weston Amber, Dudko Maya, Eva Kevin
The Stoneygate Centre for Empathic Healthcare, Leicester Medical School, University of Leicester, Leicester, UK.
The Stoneygate Centre for Empathic Healthcare, Leicester Medical School, University of Leicester, Leicester, UK.
Patient Educ Couns. 2025 Feb;131:108596. doi: 10.1016/j.pec.2024.108596. Epub 2024 Dec 1.
To identify the components of therapeutic empathy based on a review of existing definitions.
A search for therapeutic empathy definitions was conducted in two stages. First, a list of empathy definitions from within healthcare contexts was compiled using existing systematic reviews and a database of empathy definitions. The components of those definitions were identified through thematic analysis. Then, forward and backward citation searching (snowballing) of the papers from which those definitions were retrieved was conducted. These papers were randomly sampled and integrated into the analysis until saturation was reached.
The searches yielded 3948 definitions of therapeutic empathy. Saturation was reached after analysing 39 individual definitions. Six interrelated components of therapeutic empathy were identified: exploring, understanding, shared understanding, feeling, therapeutic action, and maintaining boundaries.
This study identified six prevailing components of therapeutic empathy that distinguish it from empathy in general. The findings provide a conceptual starting point that can help the field better focus its understanding and use of activities that relate to empathy in practice.
Future practice, research, and education can use the components generated in this study to more consistently define therapeutic empathy, thereby offering potential to improve patient and practitioner outcomes.
通过回顾现有定义来确定治疗性同理心的组成部分。
对治疗性同理心的定义进行两阶段检索。首先，利用现有的系统评价和同理心定义数据库，汇编一份医疗保健背景下的同理心定义列表。通过主题分析确定这些定义的组成部分。然后，对检索出这些定义的论文进行向前和向后的引文检索（滚雪球法）。对这些论文进行随机抽样并纳入分析，直至达到饱和状态。
检索得到3948条治疗性同理心的定义。在分析了39条个体定义后达到饱和状态。确定了治疗性同理心的六个相互关联的组成部分：探索、理解、共同理解、感受、治疗行动和保持界限。
本研究确定了治疗性同理心有别于一般同理心的六个主要组成部分。这些发现提供了一个概念起点，有助于该领域更好地聚焦于对实践中与同理心相关活动的理解和运用。
未来的实践、研究和教育可以利用本研究得出的组成部分，更一致地定义治疗性同理心，从而有可能改善患者和从业者的治疗效果。
