Historical Concept Analysis of Empathy

Abstract

An analysis of the concept empathy was performed on archival, narrative accounts of Civil War nursing care using concept analysis strategies. Archival model cases are presented with elucidation of critical attributes, antecedents and consequences, and empirical referents of the concept. The antecedent phenomena of patient cues and consequent phenomena of patient responses serve to clarify instances of nurse empathy and establish preliminary and terminal boundaries of the concept. Empirical referents of the critical attributes identification, introjection, and intervention further explicate this abstract construct. Analysis of contrary, related, and borderline cases extracted from the historical accounts serve to clarify empathy. Most notable to the analysis is the existence of nursing interventions as a critical attribute and the nature of patient responses. Preliminary examination of the model cases indicates patient outcomes improve when empathy is extant in the interaction.