ArticleBMC health services research2024
Digital clinical empathy in a live chat: multiple findings from a formative qualitative study and usability tests.
Article in BMC health services research, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Digital compassion fatigue and digital empathy in healthcare: mapping the evidence and informing a human-centered clinical framework.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Pooled it
- Clinician-Patient Asynchronous Text Messaging Communication in Hospital-at-Home Care: Qualitative Study.Journal of medical Internet research · 2026Article
- Therapeutic empathy in remote consultations in general practice: a realist review protocol.BMJ open · 2026Article
- The Digital Competences of Exercise Therapists in Obesity Care: A Step Towards Digital Sovereignty Assessed with the DigCompThExO Questionnaire.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Empathic AI for Patient-Centered Cancer Care: A Scoping Review of Patient Navigation, Support, and Clinical Practice.JMIR cancer · 2026Article
- Empowering Informal Caregivers of Persons With Early-Stage Dementia by Large Language Models: Mixed Methods Evaluation.JMIR formative research · 2026Article
- Digital compassion fatigue in nurses: an evolutionary concept analysis.Frontiers in public health · 2026Review
- Request-response characteristics and public satisfaction with using a health hotline.Frontiers in digital health · 2026Article
- The silent strain beyond the screen: conceptualizing digital compassion fatigue in nursing.BMC nursing · 2025Article
- Article
- Third-party evaluators perceive AI as more compassionate than expert humans.Communications psychology · 2025Article
- Determinants of the implementation of eHealth-based long-term follow-up care for young cancer survivors: a qualitative study.BMC cancer · 2024Article
- Compassion through technology: Digital empathy concept analysis and implications in nursing.Digital healthReview
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
10 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundClinical empathy is considered a crucial element in patient-centered care. The advent of digital technology in healthcare has introduced new dynamics to empathy which needs to be explored in the context of the technology, particularly within the context of written live chats. Given the growing prevalence of written live chats, this study aimed to explore and evaluate techniques of digital clinical empathy within a familial cancer-focused live chat, focusing on how health professionals can (a) understand, (b) communicate, and (c) act upon users' perspectives and emotional states.
methodsThe study utilized a qualitative approach in two research phases. It examined the expected and implemented techniques and effectiveness of digital clinical empathy in a live chat service, involving semi-structured interviews with health professionals (n = 9), focus group discussions with potential users (n = 42), and two rounds of usability tests between health professionals (n = 9) and users (n = 18). Data were examined using qualitative content analysis.
resultsExpected techniques of digital clinical empathy, as articulated by both users and health professionals, involve reciprocal engagement, timely responses, genuine authenticity, and a balance between professionalism and informality, all while going beyond immediate queries to facilitate informed decision-making. Usability tests confirm these complexities and introduce new challenges, such as balancing timely, authentic responses with effective, personalized information management and carefully framed referrals.
conclusionsThe study reveals that the digital realm adds layers of complexity to the practice of clinical empathy. It underscores the importance of ongoing adaptation and suggests that future developments could benefit from a hybrid model that integrates the strengths of both AI and human health professionals to meet evolving user needs and maintain high-quality, empathetic healthcare interactions.
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What Socratic holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.