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

Medical Education Online

Carlos K. H. Wong¹  Colman S. C. Fung¹  Julie Y. Chen¹  Weng Y. Chin¹  Joyce P. Y. Tsang¹ 

[1] Department of Family Medicine and Primary Care, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong;

关键词: empathy;    validation;    psychometric;    undergraduate;    medical student;    primary care;    assessment;    clinical consultation;    communication;   

DOI  :  10.3402/meo.v20.27346

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

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.

【 授权许可】

Unknown