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. 2024 Jan 19;19(1):e0297099.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0297099. eCollection 2024.

Measures of empathy and compassion: A scoping review

Cassandra Vieten  1   2 , Caryn Kseniya Rubanovich  3   4   5   6 , Lora Khatib  3 , Meredith Sprengel  7 , Chloé Tanega  2 , Craig Polizzi  8   9 , Pantea Vahidi  10 , Anne Malaktaris  3   11 , Gage Chu  11 , Ariel J Lang  3   11   12 , Ming Tai-Seale  13 , Lisa Eyler  3   5   14 , Cinnamon Bloss  3   5   6   14
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Measures of empathy and compassion: A scoping review

Cassandra Vieten et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Evidence to date indicates that compassion and empathy are health-enhancing qualities. Research points to interventions and practices involving compassion and empathy being beneficial, as well as being salient outcomes of contemplative practices such as mindfulness. Advancing the science of compassion and empathy requires that we select measures best suited to evaluating effectiveness of training and answering research questions. The objective of this scoping review was to 1) determine what instruments are currently available for measuring empathy and compassion, 2) assess how and to what extent they have been validated, and 3) provide an online tool to assist researchers and program evaluators in selecting appropriate measures for their settings and populations. A scoping review and broad evidence map were employed to systematically search and present an overview of the large and diverse body of literature pertaining to measuring compassion and empathy. A search string yielded 19,446 articles, and screening resulted in 559 measure development or validation articles reporting on 503 measures focusing on or containing subscales designed to measure empathy and/or compassion. For each measure, we identified the type of measure, construct being measured, in what context or population it was validated, response set, sample items, and how many different types of psychometrics had been assessed for that measure. We provide tables summarizing these data, as well as an open-source online interactive data visualization allowing viewers to search for measures of empathy and compassion, review their basic qualities, and access original citations containing more detail. Finally, we provide a rubric to help readers determine which measure(s) might best fit their context.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Article screening flow diagram.
Fig 2
Fig 2. Interactive data visualization.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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