The Consultation and Relational Empathy (CARE) Measure is a consultation process measure has that been developed by Dr Stewart Mercer and colleagues in the Departments of General Practice at Glasgow University and Edinburgh University. It is based on a broad definition of empathy in context of a therapeutic relationship within the consultation. The wording reflects a desire to produce a holistic, patient-centred measure that is meaningful to patients irrespective of their social class, and has been developed and applied in over 3,000 general practice consultations in areas of high and low deprivation in the west of Scotland.
- The scoring system for each item is ‘poor’=1, ‘fair’ = 2, ‘good’ = 3, ‘very good’ = 4, and ‘excellent’= 5. All ten items are then added, giving a maximum possible score of 50, and a minimum of 10. Up to two ‘Not Applicable’ responses or missing values are allowable, and are replaced with the average score for the remaining items. Questionnaires with more than two missing values or ‘Not Applicable’ responses are removed from the analysis.
- Mercer, S. W., Watt, G. C. M., Maxwell, M., & Heaney, D.H. (2004). The development and preliminary validation of the Consultation and Relational Empathy (CARE) Measure: an empathy-based consultation process measure. Family Practice, 21(6), 699-705.