Empathy and compassion in the health-related literature: disciplinary and topic trends and gaps

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to explore the disciplinary and topic trends associated with empathy (E) and compassion (C) in the PubMed health-related literature and assess whether they suggest a sufficient basis for understanding empathic and compassionate relationships and communities of care in ways that serve practical ends. I performed 353 queries on E and C in the PubMed database, searching on E, C, and E AND C alone and with 23 disciplinary and 60 topic terms. I considered the total distribution of results for E, C, and E AND C, the relative distribution of results for E and C, and the relative distributions of results within nursing and medicine because of the importance of E and C to healthcare outcomes. The findings reveal a lack of pragmatic perspective suggested by a) semantic overlap between E and C, b) bias toward the psychological perspective of E and C, and c) lack of significant association between E and C and language/linguistics and emotions and the disciplines and topics critical to them that inform pragmatic understanding. The findings point to a gap between theory and the understanding needed to serve as a sufficient basis for understanding empathic and compassionate relationships and communities of care. They suggest there is an opportunity to understand E and C in the light of communicative function where the inextricable association between language and emotion has been illuminated and the potential lies to advance scientific understanding in a way that bridges this gap.