The value of empathy in dietetic consultations. A pilot study to investigate its effect on satisfaction, autonomy and agreement

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>Forty individuals with diabetes and three dietitians completed a questionnaire concerning their consultation. Empathy was examined using the Empathic Communication Coding System (ECCS) (<jats:ext-link xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="#b2">Bylund &amp; Makoul, 2002</jats:ext-link>). The more empathic the professionals’ response to emotional opportunities, the more satisfied patients were with their consultations (<jats:italic>r</jats:italic> = 0.41, d.f. = 15, <jats:italic>P</jats:italic> = 0.05). There was a nonsignificant trend that the more empathic opportunities that arise during a consultation, the higher the agreement between patient and dietitian on what was discussed (<jats:italic>r</jats:italic> = 0.28, <jats:italic>P</jats:italic> = 0.07). The data also suggest that patients reported more autonomy support when they created more empathic opportunities during their consultation (<jats:italic>r</jats:italic> = −0.29, <jats:italic>P</jats:italic> = 0.07). This preliminary study suggests that professionals’ responses to empathic opportunities may be a useful component of dietetic consultations.</jats:p>