Parental measurement and correlation of empathy among families attending pediatric neurology clinics.

Background: Empathy plays a vital role in optimizing care, demanding its presence in both clinicians and patients within the pediatric context. In this domain, empathy takes on a multidimensional aspect, considering various cognitive subdimensions. Moreover, families' empathy and sensitivity have been identified as potent protective factors influencing psychosocial adjustment. Objectives: The study was designed to assess the level of empathy among parents of patients attending the pediatric neurology clinics. Methods: This is a descriptive cross-sectional exploratory study that included parents of patients attending the pediatric neurology clinics. The study used a 20-item self-reporting validated questionnaire termed Perth Empathy Scale (PES) to measure empathy on a multidimensional construct. Data analysis was conducted using GraphPad Prism V9.1. Results: Parents of 821 families responded to the survey with an average age of 40.46 ± 8.72 years: 529 (64.43%) were fathers and 724 (88.19%) were married. One-third stated that they resided with their parents and 42.14% reported that their parents rely on them financially. The majority were following up at the epilepsy clinic (70.52%). The high empathy level was prevalent among mothers compared to fathers ( Conclusion: This study underlines the significance of exploring the variance in empathy levels among parents of chronically ill children. It identifies mothers as generally more empathetic than fathers in this context. In addition, several factors were found to be associated with increased empathetic behaviors and tendencies. These compelling findings highlight the necessity for further studies in this area to deepen our understanding of empathy's dynamics and its implications for pediatric care.