Assessing empathy in final‑year medical students using the Persian version of the Jefferson Scale of Physician Empathy
نویسندگان
1 Clinical Education Research Center, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran
2 Clinical Education Research Center, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran,
3 Clinical Education Research Center, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran,
4
5 Cognitive Neuroscience Research Center for Psychiatry and Behavioral Science, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran
6 Center for Educational Research in Medical Sciences, School of Medicine, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
7 Clinical Education Research Center, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran,
doi
چکیده
BACKGROUND: A doctor–patient relationship built on the concept of empathy is so essential toattain the best clinical outcomes in medicine. Since empathy has a positive role in interpersonalrelationships and medical outcomes, its assessment is highly crucial. The aim of this study was toassess the empathy in last‑year medical students using the Persian version of the Jefferson Scaleof Physician Empathy (JSPE) and correlate empathy scores with demographic features.MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this cross‑sectional study, last‑year medical students at ShirazMedical School, Shiraz, Iran, were recruited for this study. In this research, we used the Persianversion of JSPE. The validity and reliability of the Persian version of this tool were confirmed in theprevious research. For the analysis of data, we employed descriptive statistics and the independentsample t‑test.RESULTS: One hundred and eighty‑five final‑year medical students were included in this study.The maximum score of the questionnaire was 140, and the total mean score of empathy was98.15 ± 13.29. The females’ total mean score (102.05 ± 11.89) was higher than the males’score (93.57 ± 13.46). The difference between the mean score of gender and empathy wassignificant (P value <.001), but there was no significant difference between empathy and the twoother demographic factors (P > 0.05).CONCLUSIONS: Although physicians would gain the essential characteristics of empathy during theircareer, attending professors and other responsible policymakers in medical education should focusmore on the factors related to physicians’ empathy to train better and more professional physicians.
