Cross-cultural adaptation and clinical application of the Perth Empathy Scale

Objective

Alterations of empathy have been observed in patients with various mental disorders. The Perth Empathy Scale (PES) was recently developed to measure a multidimensional construct of empathy across positive and negative emotions. However, its psychometric properties and clinical applications have not been examined in the Chinese context.

Methods

The Chinese version of the PES was developed and administered to a large Chinese sample (n = 1090). Factor structure, internal consistency, test–retest reliability, and convergent, discriminant, as well as concurrent validity were examined. Moreover, 50 patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) and 50 healthy controls were recruited to explore the clinical utility of the PES.

Results

Confirmatory factor analyses supported a theoretically congruent three-factor structure of empathy, namely Cognitive Empathy, Negative Affective Empathy and Positive Affective Empathy. The PES showed good to excellent internal consistency reliability, good convergent and discriminant validity, acceptable concurrent validity, and moderate to high test–retest reliability. Patients with MDD had significantly lower PES scores compared to healthy controls. Linear discriminant function comprised of the three factors correctly differentiated 71% of participants, which further verified the clinical utility of the PES.

Conclusions

Our findings indicated that the Chinese version of the PES is a reliable and valid instrument to measure cognitive and affective empathy across negative and positive emotions, and could therefore be used in both research and clinical practice.