The consultation and relational empathy measure: an investigation of its scaling structure

Abstract

The Consultation and Relational Empathy measure: an investigation of its scaling structure Abstract PurposeThe Consultation and Relational Empathy (CARE) measure is recommended to evaluate the quality of care. However, there is no evidence it is valid in rehabilitation. Aims 1) to examine the internal construct (factorial) validity of the CARE in the assessment of the patienttherapist relationship. MethodCARE data were part of an experimental study of acupuncture and different currently used acupuncture placebo controls, including 213 patients (age 66.8, SD 8.3, 58% female) with chronic stable hip or knee pain of mechanical origin, waiting for a joint replacement. CARE was completed two weeks into the study and on completion two weeks later. Data analysis:Cronbach alpha, factor analysis and Rasch analysis. ResultsInternal construct validity was supported (82% of variance explained by the first factor; fit to the Rasch model χ 2 =18.2, P=0.57). CARE was unidimensional, had local independence of items, good item fit, absence of Differential Item Functioning and invariance over time.Three percent of people did not complete items 9&10. ConclusionsCARE satisfied strict criteria for internal construct validity. An interval scale transformation is available that can be used in clinical practice and research. Further work is required to investigate item non-response and how this may be dealt with in clinical settings.3

A Swedish version of the Consultation and Relational Empathy (CARE) measure

“…Kersten et al. [ 26 ] show that a large part of variance (82%) was explained by the first factor (fit to the Rasch model). Still, the ‘low-response’ items are important to investigate further, related to clinical settings.…”

Impact of perceived weight stigma among underserved women on doctor–patient relationships

“…Patients' perception of their physician's empathy was assessed using the Consultation and Relational Empathy (CARE) measure (37). This instrument has been extensively validated and found reliable in different populations, healthcare settings and countries (38)(39)(40)(41)(42)(43)(44). The CARE measure consists of 10 items with answers on a 5-point rating scale (1 = poor to 5 = excellent; Cronbach's alpha was 0.96); see Table 2.…”

Testing two competitive models of empathic communication in cancer care encounters: A factorial analysis of the CARE measure

“…The nature of empathy is unclear; PE is generally considered as a whole and its subcomponents are rarely identified. In fact, the CARE has been validated in primary care settings in many languages and a large majority of the validations found a unidimensional structure of the scale using exploratory factor analysis (EFA) (Crosta Ahlforn, Bojner Horwitz, & Osika, 2017;Kersten, White, & Tennant, 2012;van Dijk et al, 2016). The scale presents good psychometric properties with Cronbach's alphas higher than 0.9 (e.g.…”