Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2026 Jan 7;18(1):e101048.
doi: 10.7759/cureus.101048. eCollection 2026 Jan.

An Outpatient Cross-Sectional Study of Physicians' Empathy From the Patients' Perspective: A Comparison of the Arabic Version of the Consultation and Relational Empathy (CARE) Measure Across Four Disciplines

Eiad A AlFaris  1   2 , Abdullah M Ahmed  1   2 , Gominda Ponnamperuma  3 , Lemmese Alwatban  2   4 , Hamad A Alkhenizan  5 , Bandar H Alaamer  5 , Faisal M AlRashed  5 , Bassam A Alghizzi  5 , Ahmed S AlGhamdi  5 , Abdullah S AlGhamdi  5
Affiliations

An Outpatient Cross-Sectional Study of Physicians' Empathy From the Patients' Perspective: A Comparison of the Arabic Version of the Consultation and Relational Empathy (CARE) Measure Across Four Disciplines

Eiad A AlFaris et al. Cureus. .

Abstract

Purpose Empathy plays a crucial role in the patient-physician relationship and is often regarded as a key determinant of effective medical care. This study aimed to validate the Arabic version of the Consultation and Relational Empathy (CARE) measure and compare patients' perceptions of physician empathy across four medical specialties. Materials and methods A cross-sectional, survey-based design was employed. Participants were randomly selected from family medicine, general surgery, internal medicine, and orthopedics clinics (36 patients per specialty). The investigators individually assisted each patient in completing the Arabic version of the CARE measure, which measured the level of empathy perceived during their medical consultation. After translation, a validation study for the Arabic version was conducted. The mean CARE scores across the four specialties were analyzed using nonparametric tests, namely the Mann-Whitney U test and the Kruskal-Wallis test, with statistical significance set at p < 0.05. Results A significant association was found between physicians' specialties and patients' perceptions of empathy levels (p = 0.047). Family medicine physicians had the highest mean empathy scores, while orthopedic surgeons had the lowest. Patients' marital status was significantly associated with their perception of their doctors' empathy (p = 0.032), with married patients reporting the highest level of empathy and single patients the lowest. The (CARE) measure demonstrated high reliability, with a Cronbach's alpha of 0.926. Conclusions Patients' perceptions of doctors' empathy were significantly higher among family medicine physicians than among orthopedic surgeons. It shows that the Arabic version of the CARE measure has strong psychometric properties and is valid for use in similar outpatient settings. The results indicate the need to enhance the training curricula of medical programs in general and surgical programs in particular.

Keywords: care instrument; empathy differences; family medicine; perceived empathy by patients; physician empathy.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Human subjects: Informed consent for treatment and open access publication was obtained or waived by all participants in this study. Institutional Review Board of the College of Medicine of King Saud University issued approval 22/0596/IRB. Animal subjects: All authors have confirmed that this study did not involve animal subjects or tissue. Conflicts of interest: In compliance with the ICMJE uniform disclosure form, all authors declare the following: Payment/services info: All authors have declared that no financial support was received from any organization for the submitted work. Financial relationships: Eiad AlFaris, Abdullah M. Ahmed declare(s) employment from King Saud University, Deanship of Scientific Research, through Vice Deanship of Scientific Research Chairs, Research Chair of Medical Education and Development. Other relationships: All authors have declared that there are no other relationships or activities that could appear to have influenced the submitted work.

References

    1. Freeman Freeman, Thomas R. McWhinney's Textbook of Family Medicine (4 edn) New York: Oxford University Press; 2016.
    1. Toward a consensus on the nature of empathy: a review of reviews. Håkansson Eklund J, Summer Meranius M. Patient Educ Couns. 2021;104:300–307. - PubMed
    1. The role of empathy in health and social care professionals. Moudatsou M, Stavropoulou A, Philalithis A, Koukouli S. Healthcare (Basel) 2020;8:26. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Patient-rated physician empathy and patient satisfaction during pain clinic consultations. Walsh S, O'Neill A, Hannigan A, Harmon D. Ir J Med Sci. 2019;188:1379–1384. - PubMed
    1. Patient-centered care and outcomes: a systematic review of the literature. Rathert C, Wyrwich MD, Boren SA. Med Care Res Rev. 2013;70:351–379. - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources