Are clinicians' self-reported empathic concern and perspective-taking traits associated with their response to patient emotions?: Communication Studies.

Only verbal behavior from transcripts was coded, so nonverbal emotional cues and responses were not captured. The recorders may have changed patient or clinician behavior. Empathic concern and perspective-taking were self-reported and may be overestimated or underestimated. The clinician sample was small, and the two empathy scales were strongly correlated, so the study cannot separate their independent effects. The sample was mostly white, female clinicians and African American, male patients, which may affect emotional communication through racial and gender discordance. The visits were from HIV specialty centers at two urban academic medical centers in the United States, so results may not apply elsewhere. The study did not measure whether patients perceived responses as empathic or whether advice improved patient outcomes.

The supplied text does not include an author conflict-of-interest statement. The publication types list NIH extramural and U.S. government non-PHS research support.

Do not conclude that giving information or advice is helpful or that fewer patient emotional expressions are good. The study did not measure patient perceptions or outcomes, and the main response categories showed no association with empathy traits.