[Empathy deficit in adolescents : how to characterize and evaluate it clinically ? A litterature review].

Introduction

empathy has been considered since a long time under the angle of human sciences. Today, certain neuro-scientific postulates complement this knowledge. Context : observation of adolescents presenting psychiatric disorders, accompagnied by conduct disorders and/or psychopathic traits, frequently describe empathy deficits ; nurses should evaluate the nature and the degree of empathy of these adolescents. Aims : this litterature review aims to expose the clinical characteristics of empathy deficit from its definition and to describe the clinical evaluation tools. Method : target population of this review is children and adolescents from twelve to eighteen years old. The review was carried out with PubMed, CINAHL and PsycINFO, from 2002 to 2012.

Results

twenty-two articles were retained. Empathy is defined as a mechanism combining several components of neuronal activity. Empathy includes a cognitive component, an affective component which are based on a neurofunctional dysfunctional substrate when there is a deficit of empathy. Three evaluation scales are distinguished : the Basic empathy scale, the Interpersonal reactivity index and the Griffith empathy measure. Discussion : three evaluation tools present the validity and reliability criteria for clinical use.

Conclusion

the development of evidence based practices should confirm the interest of these tools for nurses.