L'hétérogénéité de la manifestation de l'alliance thérapeutique et des dimensions cognitive et affective de l'empathie chez les orthophonistes en France

Background. The interaction between the cognitive and affective dimensions of empathy and the ability to establish a therapeutic alliance with the patient has been explored for several healthcare professions except for speech therapists. Objective. The work described here was carried out to collect measures from French speech therapists in order to identify groups differing in their therapeutic alliance and their cognitive and affective dimensions of empathy. Methods. A national survey was conducted to measure the therapeutic alliance (WAI-SR scale) and the cognitive (perspective-taking) and affective (compassionate care) dimensions of empathy. Sociodemographic items (age, sex, professional seniority) completed the questionnaire. After psychometric validation of the WAI-SR scale, a correlational analysis was performed between the different measures. Cluster analysis was used to explore the heterogeneity of the population regarding these constructs. Results. 698 responses were analysed. The WAI-SR scale had a uni-dimensional structure that was invariant to job tenure. The WAI-SR score was positively correlated with perspective-taking (ρs = 0,407 ; p < ,001) and compassionate care (ρs = 0,193 ; p < ,001). These correlations did not differ significantly (p > .05) by professional seniority. Four clusters were identified as differing in therapeutic alliance (K = 277.91 ; p < .001), perspective taking (K = 315.69 ; p < .001) and compassionate care (K = 246.31 ; p < .001). Conclusion. This work constitutes the first analysis of data collected from speech and language therapists practising in France concerning the therapeutic alliance and the cognitive and affective dimensions of empathy. These three constructs are positively correlated and their manifestations areheterogeneous in the sample tested. This heterogeneity does not appear to be strictly dependent on professional seniority. Other possible determinants of this heterogeneity are discussed.