Empathic accuracy among cancer caregivers: Predictors and outcomes

Objectives: To identify the demographic and psychosocial correlates of empathic accuracy and examine the role of empathic accuracy in psychological adaptation in a sample of Chinese cancer caregivers. Design: Prospective survey study Setting Outpatient clinics of Department of Surgery in Pamela Youde Nethersole Eastern Hospital and Department of Clinical Oncology in Princess Margaret Hospital. Participants: A total of 129 caregivers of Chinese people newly diagnosed with lung, colorectal, stomach, or liver cancers. Main outcome measures: Caregivers’ physical functioning, anxiety and depressive symptoms, positive affect, and satisfaction with life at 6-month follow-up. Results: Multivariable regression revealed that caregivers with primary education or below demonstrated lower levels of empathic accuracy. Controlling for demographic and psychosocial covariates, empathic accuracy at baseline predicted lower anxiety and depressive symptoms and higher positive affect at six-month follow-up. Conclusions: Enhancing caregivers’ empathic accuracy could have adaptive utility for them as well as their social partners with cancer. Empathic accuracy could be of specific relevance to social support provision among Chinese cancer caregivers, who tend to expect themselves to act proactively instead of reactively to close social partners’ needs and difficulties in coping with stress.