Validation of the Jefferson Scale of Patient Perception of Physician Empathy Spanish (Spain) Version in Primary Care

Empathy is considered a prerequisite for a successful physician-patient relationship. The Jefferson Scale of Patient Perceptions of Physician Empathy (JSPPPE) is a regularly-used, patient-rated measure of physician empathy. The aim of this study is to translate and analyze the reliability and validity of the JSPPPE Spanish (Spain) version (Sp-JSPPPE) in primary care in order to use it with medical trainees.

After translation and back translation of the JSPPPE, 369 patients from 21 primary care physicians in Pamplona (Navarre, Spain) completed the Sp-JSPPPE, a sociodemographic questionnaire, the Spanish (Spain) Consultation and Relational Empathy Measure (Sp-CARE), and a question about overall satisfaction. We studied internal reliability (Cronbach's α and ordinal α), homogeneity (corrected item-total correlations), construct validity (confirmatory factor analysis [CFA]) and concurrent validity (Spearman's correlation) of Sp-JSPPPE.

Cronbach's α and ordinal α were 0.870 and 0.919, respectively, for the Sp-JSPPPE, and all corrected item-total correlations exceeded the accepted cutoff of 0.30, demonstrating high internal reliability and homogeneity. CFA corroborated the one-factor structure proposed in the original version. The total score for the Sp-JSPPPE was significantly correlated with sp-CARE (Spearman's ϱ 0.651, P<.001) and with overall patient satisfaction (Spearman's ϱ 0.504, P<.001).

The results support the reliability and validity of the Sp-JSPPPE in primary care. Sp-JSPPPE could be useful in empathy assessment of medical trainees, both graduate and postgraduate, in the Spanish context.