Empathy levels among health professional students: A cross-sectional study at two universities in Australia

Advances in Medical Education and Practice

Volumn 5, Issue , 2014, Pages 107-113

  Williams, Brett ^a   Brown, Ted ^a   McKenna, Lisa ^a   Boyle, Malcolm J ^a   Palermo, Claire ^a   Nestel, Debra ^a   Brightwell, Richard ^b   McCall, Louise ^a   Russo, Verity ^a  

^a MONASH UNIVERSITY   (Australia)

^b EDITH COWAN UNIVERSITY   (Australia)

Author keywords

Empathy; Health care professions

Indexed keywords

EID: 84940772700     PISSN: None     EISSN: 11797258     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.2147/AMEP.S57569     Document Type: Article

References (42)

1. Kataoka HU, Koide N, Ochi K, Hojat M, Gonnella JS. Measurement of empathy among Japanese medical students: psychometrics and score differences by gender and level of medical education. Acad Med. 2009;84(9):1192–1197.
2. Regehr C, Goldberg G, Hughes J. Exposure to human tragedy, empathy, and trauma in ambulance paramedics. Am J Orthopsychiatry. 2002;72(4):505–513.
3. Williams CA. Empathy and burnout in male and female helping professionals. Res Nurs Health. 1989;12(3):169–178.
4. Hojat M, Louis DZ, Markham FW, Wender R, Rabinowitz C, Gonnella JS. Physicians’ empathy and clinical outcomes for diabetic patients. Acad Med. 2011;86(3):359–364.
5. Forsyth GL. Analysis of the concept of empathy: illustration of one approach. ANS Adv Nurs Sci. 1980;2(2):33–42.
6. Suh D, Hong J, Lee D, Gonnella J, Hojat M. The Jefferson Scale of Physician Empathy: a preliminary psychometric study and group com-parisons in Korean physicians. Med Teach. 2012;34(6):e464–e468.
7. Hojat M, Louis DZ, Maio V, Gonnella JS. Empathy and health care quality. Am J Med Qual. 2013;28(1):6–7.
8. Hojat M. Empathy in Patient Care: Antecedents, Development, Measurement and Outcomes. New York: Springer; 2007.
9. Sherman JJ, Cramer A. Measurement of changes in empathy during dental school. J Dent Educ. 2005;69(3):338–345.
10. Gosselink MJ, Witteveen T. Growth in empathy during clinical exchange. Clin Teach. 2012;9(3):188–189.
11. Brown T, Williams B, Boyle M, et al. Levels of empathy in undergraduate occupational therapy students. Occup Ther Int. 2010;17(3):135–141.
12. Squier RW. A model of empathic understanding and adherence to treatment regimens in practitioner-patient relationships. Soc Sci Med. 1990;30(3):325–339.
13. Bertakis KD, Putnam SM, Roter D. The relationship of physician medical interview style to patient satisfaction. J Fam Pract. 1991;32(2): 175–181.
14. Zachariae R, Pedersen CG, Jensen AB, Ehrnrooth E, Rossen PB, von der Maase H. Association of perceived physician communication style with patient satisfaction, distress, cancer-related self-efficacy, and perceived control over the disease. Br J Cancer. 2003;88(5):658–665.
15. Nunes P, Williams S, Sa B, Stevenson K. A study of empathy decline in students from five health disciplines during their first year of training. Int J Med Educ. 2011;2:12–17.
16. DiMatteo MR, Sherbourne CD, Hays RD, et al. Physicians’ characteristics influence patients’ adherence to medical treatment: results from the Medical Outcomes Study. Health Psychol. 1993;12(2):93–102.
17. Moore PJ, Adler NE, Robertson PA. Medical malpractice: the effect of doctor-patient relations on medical patient perceptions and malpractice intentions. West J Med. 2000;173(4):244–250.
18. Levinson W, Roter DL, Mullooly JP, Dull VT, Frankel RM. Physician-patient communication. The relationship with malpractice claims among primary care physicians and surgeons. JAMA. 1997;277(7): 553–559.
19. Beckman HB, Markakis KM, Suchman AL, Frankel RM. The doctor-patient relationship and malpractice. Lessons from plaintiff depositions. Arch Intern Med. 1994;154(12):1365–1370.
20. Del Canale S, Louis DZ, Maio V, et al. The relationship between physician empathy and disease complications: an empirical study of primary care physicians and their diabetic patients in Parma, Italy. Acad Med. 2012;87(9):1243–1249.
21. Fields S, Mahan P, Tillman P, Harris J, Maxwell K, Hojat M. Measuring empathy in healthcare profession students using the Jefferson Scale of Physician Empathy: health provider – student version. J Interprof Care. 2011;25(4):287–293.
22. Ward J, Schaal M, Sullivan J, Bowen ME, Erdmann JB, Hojat M. Reliability and validity of the Jefferson Scale of Empathy in undergraduate nursing students. J Nurs Meas. 2009;17(1):73–88.
23. Hojat M, Mangione S, Nasca TJ, et al. An empirical study of decline in empathy in medical school. Med Educ. 2004;38(9):934–941.
24. Ozcan CT, Oflaz F, Bakir B. The effect of a structured empathy course on the students of a medical and a nursing school. Int Nurs Rev. 2012;59(4):532–538.
25. Hojat M, Mangione S, et al. (2001). The Jefferson Scale of Physician Empathy: Development and Preliminary Psychometric Data. Educational and Psychological Measurement. 61(2):349–365.
26. Williams B, Brown T, Boyle M, Dousek S. Psychometric testing of the Jefferson Scale of Empathy Health Profession Students’ version with Australian paramedic students. Nurs Health Sci. 2013;15(1):45–50.
27. Fjortoft N, Van Winkle LJ, Hojat M. Measuring empathy in pharmacy students. Am J Pharm Educ. 2011;75(6):109.
28. Kaiser HF. The application of electronic computers to factor analysis. Educ Psychol Meas. 1960;20:141–151.
29. Henson RK, Roberts JK. Use of exploratory factor analysis in published research: common errors and some comment on improved practice. Educ Psychol Meas. 2006;66(3):393–416.
30. Cattell RB. The scree test for the number of factors. Multivariate Behav Res. 1966;1(2):245–276.
31. Horn JL. A rationale and test for the number of factors in factor analysis. Psychometrika. 1965;30(2):179–185.
32. Pett MA, Lackey NR, Sullivan JJ. Making Sense of Factor Analysis: The Use of Factor Analysis for Instrument Development in Health Care Research. Thousand Oaks (CA): Sage; 2003.
33. deVaus DA. Surveys in Social Research. 3rd ed. Sydney: Allen and Unwin; 1991.
34. Boyle M, Williams B, Brown T, McKenna L, Molloy L, Lewis B. Attitudes towards patients by undergraduate health students. Proceedings of The 4th International Multi-Conference on Society, Cybernetics and Informatics: IMSCI 2010; Orlando, Florida, USA. 2010.
35. Ward J, Cody J, Schaal M, Hojat M. The empathy enigma: an empirical study of decline in empathy among undergraduate nursing students. J Prof Nurs. 2012;28(1):34–40.
36. Williams B, Boyle M, Brightwell R, et al. Paramedic empathy levels: results from seven universities. Int J Emerg Serv. 2012;1(2): 111–121.
37. Williams B, Boyle M, Earl T. Measurement of empathy levels in undergraduate paramedic students. Prehosp Disaster Med. 2013;28(2): 145–149.
38. Wahlin U, Wieslander I, Fridlund B. Loving care in the ambulance service. Intensive Crit Care Nurs. 1995;11(6):306–313.
39. Grevin F. Posttraumatic stress disorder, ego defense mechanisms, and empathy among urban paramedics. Psychol Rep. 1996;79(2): 483–495.
40. Winefield HR, Chur-Hansen A. Evaluating the outcome of communication skill teaching for entry-level medical students: does knowledge of empathy increase? Med Educ. 2000;34(2):90–94.
41. Magalhães E, Costa P, Costa MJ. Empathy of medical students and personality: evidence from the Five-Factor Model. Med Teach. 2012;34(10):807–812.
42. McKenna L, Boyle M, Brown T, et al. Levels of empathy in undergraduate midwifery students: an Australian cross-sectional study. Women Birth. 2012;24(2):80–84.