ArticleScientific reports2025
Empathy and mental health distress in informal caregivers of dementia and stroke patients: a cross-sectional study.
Article in Scientific reports, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.
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Who cites it
6 citing papers in PubMed.
- Public acceptance and expectations for Lecanemab: Insights from a Smallest Worthwhile Difference study.Psychiatry and clinical neurosciences · 2026Article
- An exploration of demographic and conceptual factors related to attitudes towards dementia.BMC geriatrics · 2026Article
- Psychological resilience as a mediator between caring attitudes and abuse risk in Chinese dementia family caregivers: a cross-sectional study.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Facilitating use of mobile health in mental health care: Perspectives of patient, caregiver and provider in Nigeria.Global mental health (Cambridge, England) · 2026Article
- The Mediating Role of Resilience in the Relationship Between Anticipatory Grief and Quality of Life in Caregivers of People with Dementia: A Cross-Sectional Study.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Supporting informal caregivers of dementia patients in China: action needed.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Article
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Authors and funding
7 authors.
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Abstract
Informal caregivers of patients with neurodegenerative diseases are confronted with significant psychological distress. However the role of empathy in their mental health distress remains understudied. This study addressed this gap by investigating the association between empathy and mental health outcomes with three groups (130 dementia caregivers, 130 stroke caregivers and 132 non-caregivers) through quantitative surveys. Measures included the Chinese Perceived Stress Scale (CPSS), Irritability, Depression, and Anxiety Scale (IDA), the Chinese Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI-C), and sociodemographic questionnaires. We found that dementia caregivers presented higher total empathy and depression scores than did stroke caregivers and non-caregivers. Stroke caregivers reported significantly greater perceived stress than did both groups. Among caregivers, cognitive empathy (IRI-C subscales) and positive affective empathy were inversely associated with the IDA and CPSS dimensions(e.g., depression, anxiety, irritability and perceived distress). Conversely, negative affective empathy was positively correlated with most psychological distress indicators. These findings highlight that cognitive empathy and positive affective empathy may serve as protective factors against mental health issues in informal caregivers, whereas negative affective empathy exacerbates psychological burden. Interventions targeting empathy enhancement (particularly cognitive components) could mitigate caregiver distress. Future research should explore causal mechanisms and test empathy-focused interventions in geriatric care settings.
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