Contagious Itch, Disgust and Empathy in Patients and Medical Staff

Primary Outcomes (3)

• Intensity of emotion (CI, disgust and empathy) in medical staff treating patients with scabies

  Score in 7-items-questionnaire including numerical rating scales (NRS) ranging from 0 (no itch/disgust/empathy) to 10 (worst itch/disgust/most empathy imaginable) to rate itch, disgust and empathy they experience when treating the infested families. The questionnaire (see Appendix) contains questions regarding demographic information (gender, age, profession), previous dermatological conditions, intensity of itch a.) before interacting with the patients, b.) when listening to the patients telling about their infestation with scabies, c.) when seeing the skin lesions, d.) when seeing patients scratching themselves, and questions regarding their intensity of disgust of the scabies and empathy for the families (0-10 NRS).

  one point assessment at baseline

• Intensity of emotion (CI, disgust and empathy) in family infested with scabies

  Score in 10-items-questionnaire addressing intensity of itch a.) on the first day of their hospitalisation, b.) when seeing the skin lesions of the other family members c.) when talking about the scabies/itch with the other family members, d.) when seeing other family members scratching themselves and intensity of disgust of the scabies and intensity of empathy for the other family members (0-10 NRS).

  one point assessment at baseline (first day of hospitalisation)

• Empathy scored by Saarbrucken Personality Questionnaire (SPQ)

  The Saarbrucken personality questionnaire SPQ is the German version of the Interpersonality Reactivity Index (IRI) used for the measurement of empathy. The tool is a self-report answered on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from "Does not describe me well" to "Describes me very well".

  one point assessment at baseline (first day of hospitalisation)

Conditions