Empathy as a communication strategy in the pharmacy — a study based on cognitive and behavioural analysis

Objective To evaluate an educational intervention that aimed to improve the level of empathy shown by pharmacy staff to their customers. Method Open study of the effect of the intervention on pharmacy staff attitudes and behaviour related to empathy. All members of staff in five pharmacies in and around Stockholm, Sweden, participated in a 20-hour continuing education course on communication and empathy. Participants worked in groups of between four and eight. Course outcomes were measured by questionnaires (to examine cognitive changes) and video-recordings (to examine behavioural changes). Staff (n=75) completed questionnaires before and after the course. Questionnaires used Davis's empathy scale and Rosenberg's self-esteem scale. Interactions between staff and customer were video-recorded before and after the training course in one pharmacy. Videotapes were subsequently coded by two researchers for specific behaviours that demonstrated empathic communication. Results The findings from both the questionnaires and the video-recordings indicated that after the course there were small increases both in the pharmacy staff's capacity to show empathy and in some aspects of the empathic behaviour they displayed. Conclusion Rather modest changes in empathy were found to result from the intervention and possible reasons for this are explored in the paper.