Approaches to measuring empathy and component skills include self-assessment, as well as structured observer ratings quantifying the opportunities for empathy offered by patients during medical encounters and the health-care providers’ responses to these opportunities. In this chapter, we highlight validated self-rated instruments like the Jefferson Scale of Physician Empathy and the Individual Reactivity Index, as well as patient-rated empathy measurement tools like the Consultation and Relational Empathy measure. In addition, we will describe expert-rated empathy measurement tools like the Empathic Communication Coding System. We will emphasize the potential benefits of these tools as well as areas of further research needed to optimize measurement of empathy.
