Recognition of Facial Expressions of Emotion and Depressive Symptoms among Caregivers with Different Levels of Empathy

ABSTRACT

Objectives

To assess differences in the recognition of facial expressions of emotion among caregivers of older people with different levels of empathy.

Methods

A cross-sectional study was conducted with 158 caregivers of older adults who provided care in family residences or nursing homes. The caregivers were divided into three groups based on the score of the multidimensional Interpersonal Reactivity Index: “lower empathy”, “intermediate empathy”, and “higher empathy”. Data collection involved the administration of a sociodemographic questionnaire, the Emotion Recognition Test, and the Patient Health Questionnaire.

Results

No significant differences were found among the groups in terms of sociodemographic variables. Regarding clinical characteristics, the “higher empathy” group had more depressive symptoms than the other groups (p = .001). Moreover, the “higher empathy” group exhibited greater accuracy at recognizing the expression of sadness than the “lower empathy” group (p = .033). The recognition of sadness remained significant in the analysis of variance adjusted for depressive symptoms (p < .05).

Conclusions

Caregivers with higher levels of empathy showed greater accuracy at recognizing sadness emotion compared to caregivers with lower levels of empathy. Additionally, caregivers with greater empathy have more depressive symptoms.

Clinical implications

The recognition of facial expressions of sadness may give caregivers a skill to infer possible needs in older care recipients. However, a higher level of empathy may exert a negative psychological impact on caregivers of older people, which could have repercussions regarding the quality of care provided.

KEYWORDS:

• Aging
• caregivers
• depressive symptoms
• empathy
• facial emotion recognition
• older people
• social cognition
• social behavior
• social skills

Clinical implications

• The recognition of facial expressions of sadness on the part of caregiver can assist in the capacity to infer possible needs of older care recipients.

• A higher level of empathy may exert a negative psychological impact on caregivers of older people, which could have repercussions regarding the quality of care provided.

Disclosure conflicts of interest statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This study was financed in part by the Brazilian fostering agencies: Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES [Coordination for the Advancement of Higher Education Personnel]) - Finance Code 001), Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP [State of São Paulo Research Assistance Foundation (process: 17/26221-4)]) and Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq [National Council for Scientific and Technological Development]).