Empathy in Health Professions Education and Patient Care

This welcome updated and expanded edition offers new findings and insights into this cornerstone of practice as well as effective tools for its clinical use. Spanning psychodynamic theory to neuroscience and evolution to medicine, the book defines empathy in the context of patient care, and both in its critical role as a human attribute and in its necessity in promoting change and healing. Theory and data link practitioner empathy with patients’ positive outcomes in areas such as provider trust, treatment adherence, clinical improvements, and quality of life. Author also provide convincing evidence in support of validity and reliability of the Jefferson Scale of Empathy for measuring the empathy of practitioners and students in the healing professions, and detail obstacles to developing and strategies for enhancing empathy among care providers. 

Among the topics covered:

‧ Definition of empathy in patient care.

‧ Conceptualization and consequences of empathy and sympathy in patient care.

‧ An evolutionary perspective, sociophysiology, and heritability of empathy.

‧ Measurement of empathy in the general population and in health professions-in-training, and in-practice.

‧ Interpersonal dynamics in clinician-patient relationships.

‧ Ten approaches to enhance empathy in Health professions education and patient care.

‧ Exploration of neurological underpinnings of empathy.

‧ Plus in-depth discussion of development, psychometrics, and correlates of the Jefferson Scale of Empathy.

An essential text in theory and applications, Empathy in Health Professions Education and Patient Care enhances the work of health professions students, faculty, and practitioners in a variety of disciplines such as medicine, nursing, dentistry, psychology, clinical social work, and other health professions.

Mohammadreza Hojat, Ph.D. is Research Professor of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, and Director of the Jefferson Longitudinal Study of Medical Education at Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was born in Mashhad, Iran, received his bachelor’s degree from Pahlavi University (currently University of Shiraz), his master’s degree from the University of Tehran in Iran, and his doctoral degree from the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Hojat is a licensed psychologist in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and has published more than 170 articles in peer-reviewed journals on educational, psychological, and social issues.