Family Responses to Different Types of Clinician Empathy Expression in Pediatric Care Conferences

Background: Clinician empathy positively impacts patient outcomes. Few studies have assessed the effects of different types of empathic expression.Objective: To describe how families respond when clinicians express empathy in different ways.Design: Prospective, mixed-methods cohort.Setting/Subjects: English and interpreted pediatric inpatient care conferences at a U.S. quaternary hospital between January 1, 2018 and January 1, 2021.Measurements: Directed content analysis of clinician empathic statements and family responses.Results: Of 29 patient-family dyads, 11 (39%) used language interpretation. In response to 80 clinician empathic statements, families expressed agreement or shared more 84% (67/80) of the time. Families shared more about their perspective in response to explore statements 71.4% (10/14) of the time, in response to validate statements 61% (17/28) of the time, and in response to respect/support statements 39% (11/28) of the time.Conclusion: Certain types of empathic statements may be more effective at prompting families to share more about their perspective, a key element of shared decision-making.