Kindness and Empathy Play an Important Role in Cancer Treatments, Study Says

Scientists around the world are hard at work finding innovative and high-tech cancer therapies, but there’s more to treatment than the latest-and-greatest medication or expensive equipment. In fact, evidence shows that kindness in medical care can have a profound effect on patients’ outcomes, leading to faster wound healing and reduced pain. In one study, researchers specifically looked at six forms of kindness — deep listening, empathy, generous acts, timely care, gentle honesty, and support for family caregivers — and shared how practitioners can incorporate them into their care. “A patient is a person first. Caring for human needs as well as medical needs through kind acts is good medicine,” first author Leonard L. Berry wrote in an article reflecting on the study. And the acts of kindness don’t have to be big to be impactful. One parent whose child was treated for cancer at an Australian hospital recalled: “My son had general anesthesia for radiation therapy. ... When he woke up, he got upset about lacking a shirt. Now the team puts his shirt back on before he wakes … To me, these small acts were the ultimate kindness, reducing his anxiety and distress and, therefore, my own.”

The Science of Kindness