Assessing medical student empathy in a family medicine clinical test: validity of the CARE measure

Med Educ Online. 2015 Jul 7:20:27346. doi: 10.3402/meo.v20.27346. eCollection 2015.

Abstract

Introduction: The Consultation and Relational Empathy (CARE) measure developed and validated in primary care settings and used for general practitioner appraisal is a 10-item instrument used by patients to assess doctors' empathy. The aim of this study is to investigate the validity of the CARE measure in assessing medical students' empathy during a formative family medicine clinical test.

Method: All 158 final-year medical students were assessed by trained simulated patients (SPs) - who completed the CARE measure, the Jefferson Scale of Patient Perceptions of Physician Empathy (JSPPPE), and a global rating score to assess students' empathy and history-taking ability.

Results: Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis identified a unidimensional structure. The CARE measure strongly correlated with both convergent measures: global rating (ρ=0.79 and <0.001) and JSPPPE (ρ=0.77 and <0.001) and weakly correlated with the divergent measure: history-taking score (ρ=0.28 and <0.001). Internal consistency was excellent (Cronbach's α=0.94).

Conclusion: The CARE measure had strong construct and internal reliability in a formative, undergraduate family medicine examination. Its role in higher stakes examinations and other educational settings should be explored.

Keywords: assessment; clinical consultation; communication; empathy; medical student; primary care; psychometric; undergraduate; validation.

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • China
  • Education, Medical, Undergraduate / organization & administration*
  • Educational Measurement
  • Empathy*
  • Family Practice / education*
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Physician-Patient Relations
  • Reproducibility of Results
  • Students, Medical / psychology*