Empathica Development
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Empathy and Expectation Management for Patients in Primary Care: Developing a New Digital Intervention for Practitioners
IRAS ID
255326
Contact name
Felicity Bishop
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Southampton
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 9 months, 28 days
Research summary
Osteoarthritis pain is common, costly, and challenging to manage in busy primary care settings. While various drug-based and non-drug-based treatments are recommended, patients still experience pain, poor quality-of-life, and drug side effects. Regardless of which treatment patients receive, excellent practitioner-patient communication can significantly reduce patients’ pain while improving quality of life and satisfaction with care. Evidence suggests that patients experience less pain after consulting practitioners who show empathy and encourage optimism about treatment. Yet practitioners vary widely in how much they show empathy. We plan to develop an online training package for practitioners (GPs, physiotherapists, and nurses) to enhance their consultation skills to show more empathy and encourage patients to have positive yet realistic expectations. To design our training, we will make a plan and use published evidence about how practitioners can show empathy and encourage patients to have positive yet realistic expectations, and how we can help practitioners to change their behaviour. To produce our training package, we will test prototypes with patients and practitioners and make improvements. In a separate subsequent project, we will conduct a small ‘feasibility’ trial to help us design a large, fundable, clinical trial. Ultimately, we aim for our training package to enable practitioners to improve the long-term effectiveness of all drug and non-drug therapies for osteoarthritis pain, reduce patients’ pain and improve quality of life.
REC name
West Midlands - South Birmingham Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
19/WM/0027
Date of REC Opinion
25 Jan 2019
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion