The role of empathy in the care of dementia

The role of empathy in the care of dementia
The concept of empathy in relation to caring is reviewed. A variety of definitions of empathy are considered to show how empathy has been used within general nursing practice A wide range of literature is drawn on to gain insights into the multifaceted and diverse information on this topic. The differing perceptions that arise from various professional viewpoints are explored. A set of attributes are identified for empathy and these are considered in relation to clinical practice in elderly mental health.
Three examples of care are discussed to show how emotive empathy can be employed to give an improved direction to care of dementia clients. The concept is reviewed in relation to the particular needs of caring for dementia. It is suggested that it should be included in mental health training. It is concluded that emotive empathy has a vital part to play in the delivery of care for the elderly mentally ill.     

Exploring Empathy: A Conceptual Fit for Nursing Practice?

After three decades, the efficacy of empathy in the clinical setting remains undocumented. Recently, concerns have been raised that the concept may be inappropriate and even harmful to the nurse-patient relationship. An analysis of the concept indicates that empathy consists of moral, emotive, cognitive and behavioral components. By tracing the integration of this concept into nursing, we suggest that empathy was uncritically adopted from psychology and is actually a poor fit for the clinical reality of nursing practice. Other communication strategies presently devalued, such as sympathy, pity, consolation, compassion and commiseration, need to be reexamined and may be more appropriate than empathy during certain phases of the illness experience. Directions for future research are suggested.     

移情在护患沟通中的应用

为促进护患沟通,提高护理工作质量,介绍了沟通技巧中移情的定义和内涵,移情式沟通技巧及步骤,并指出了阻碍移情的因素。     

Self‐other resonance,its control and prosocial inclinations: Brain–behavior relationships

Humans seem to place a positive reward value on prosocial behavior. Evidence suggests that this prosocial inclination is driven by our reflexive tendency to share in the observed sensations, emotions and behavior of others, or “self‐other resonance”. In this study, we examine how neural correlates of self‐other resonance relate to prosocial decision‐making. Subjects performed two tasks while undergoing fMRI: observation of a human hand pierced by a needle, and observation and imitation of emotional facial expressions. Outside the scanner, subjects played the Dictator Game with players of low or high income (represented by neutral‐expression headshots). Subjects’ offers in the Dictator Game were correlated with activity in neural systems associated with self‐other resonance and anticorrelated with activity in systems implicated in the control of pain, affect, and imitation. Functional connectivity between areas involved in self‐other resonance and top‐down control was negatively correlated with subjects’ offers. This study suggests that the interaction between self‐other resonance and top‐down control processes are an important component of prosocial inclinations towards others, even when biological stimuli associated with self‐other resonance are limited. These findings support a view of prosocial decision‐making grounded in embodied cognition. Hum Brain Mapp 37:1544‐1558, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

297名助产士共情能力调查分析

目的 调查助产士共情能力现状并分析助产士共情能力的影响因素。方法 本研究采用滚雪球抽样的方法,通过问卷星进行网络调查。在2019年3—5月将自行设计的一般情况调查问卷和杰弗逊共情量表中文版制成问卷星电子调查问卷,发放到中华助产士专科培训微信群,并请求群成员将问卷转发至自己所在医院的产房助产士群,对全国25个省市80余家医院的297名助产士进行了调查。结果 助产士共情能力总分为（113.90±13.13）分,得分率均值为81.36%,各维度得分率均值由高到低依次为观点采择维度（82.36%）,情感护理维度（80.64%）,换位思考维度（79.67%）。参加过共情相关培训的助产士共情能力高于未参加培训者,对工作满意度高的助产士共情能力高于对工作不满意者和持一般态度者（P<0.05）。结论 助产士共情能力处于中等偏上水平,观点采择维度得分最高,换位思考维度得分最低,提示管理者可着重在换位思考角度加强对助产士共情能力的培训,同时采取多种措施提高助产士的工作满意度,以提高其共情能力。     

论叙事医学对高职护生共情能力的培养

文章主要对叙事医学与共情的概念及内涵进行梳理,研究叙事医学对护生共情能力培养的作用和影响,分析其必要性与可行性,从医学史与中文叙事的视角出发,具体阐释叙事医学对高职院校护生共情能力培养的两条路径:一是精细阅读医学史,为培养护生共情能力奠定良好契机;二是反思性中文叙事,为构建护患共同体搭起共情桥梁。     

Early glycinergic axon contact with the Mauthner neuron during zebrafish development

One important aspect of empathy is a “resonance mechanism”, which includes emotional cue detection, facial mimicry (measured by electromyography, EMG) and a specific cortical response. This study explored the convergence of these three measures of affective empathy. The twenty students who took part in the study were required to empathise with the situation by entering into the other person's situation. The four emotions portrayed were anger, fear, happiness, and neutral, and the subjects were instructed to make a two-alternative response (emotion or no emotion) to each emotion. A repeated transcranial magnetic stimulation was used to produce a temporary inhibition of the medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC). The results support the hypothesis that there is a direct relationship between emotional cue recognition, EMG-measured facial response and prefrontal activity. First, both facial expression detection and autonomic mimicry in reaction to emotional faces were systematically modulated in response to inhibition of the MPFC. Second, the MPFC was implicated in facial cue detection and the subsequent autonomic response because an impaired performance on both measures was observed when this brain area was inhibited. Third, this effect increased when negative-valenced stimuli (angry and fearful faces) were presented to the subjects. These results revealed a significant effect of the MPFC on both cue detection and facial mimicry that was distinctly related to different types of emotions.     

Differential effects of tryptophan depletion on emotion processing according to face direction

Reading facial emotion is disrupted by both psychopathology,such as autism, and altered function of neurotransmitter, suchas serotonin. These effects could result from reduced sensitivityof emotional processing systems to facial emotion. The impactof facial expression is also greater when personally directedthan when averted. We therefore hypothesized that brain activityassociated with emotional representation, would be more susceptibleto manipulation of serotonin function by Acute Tryptophan Depletion(ATD) for front-viewed than side-viewed faces, measured usingfunctional imaging (fMRI). ATD reduced activity independentof face view in left superior temporal sulcus (STS) and anteriorcingulate. In temporal pole, medial frontal cortex and orbitofrontalcortex, ATD also reduced activity, but specifically for front-viewedfaces. In right STS, ATD increased activity, but specificallyfor side-viewed faces. Activity in the amygdalae depended onface view and emotion type. We suggest that engagement of empathicand associative learning functions when viewing faces is facilitatedby direct facial view and intact serotonin transmission. Avertedfaces, and reduced serotonin function facilitate attention tothe external goal of gaze. These changes could be adaptive ina threatening context and markedly affect empathic functionin conditions associated with impaired serotonin function, suchas depression and autism.