Relationship of Perceived Empathy to Nursesʼ Communication

Relationship between empathy as perceived by a helpee and the communication of a helper in a therapeutic encounter was investigated in an exploratory, descriptive analysis of verbal and vocal communicative behaviors of nurses. A stimulation was designed whereby a nurse interacted with an actress role playing the part of a patient in a physician's office. Overall verbal and vocal behaviors of high empathizers did not differ from verbal and vocal behaviors of low empathizers. A broad theoretical model of the perception of empathy is suggested, one incorporating all three channels of communication (verbal nonverbal, and vocal) and accounting for the congruency among these channels.