A Validation Study of the Greek Version of the Toronto Empathy Questionnaire in Medical Students and a Measurement of Their Empathy

Abstract

Aims and objectivesEmpathy is an important key driver of any therapeutic relationship. It is beneficial not only to the patients, but also to physicians. Enhancing physician’s empathy should be an important goal of medical education. As there is a literature gap regarding the topic of empathy among medical students in Greece, this study aims to contribute to filling this gap.MethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted. The (validated in Greece) Greek version of Toronto 52‐item empathy 6-point Likert-scale was administered to all the medical students in the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, in Greece. In addition, participants were asked to provide information regarding their socio-demographics. A demographic comparison was conducted.ResultsThe preliminary validation of the Greek version of the Toronto Composite Empathy Scale (TCES) demonstrated acceptable validity and reliability among medical students and could be further tested in larger samples of medical students. The overall reliability analysis of the TCES questionnaire is high (Cronbach's α = 0.895, Sig. from Hotelling’s T-Squared Test < 0.000). The mean total score of empathy showed that students have a moderately high empathy. The 52‐item TCES, 26 for the personal (Per) setting and another 26 for professional (Pro) life, equally divided into cognitive (Cog) and emotional (Emo) empathy in each case. It was found that there is a statistically significant difference in means between the Per-Cog and Per-Emo settings (Sig < 0.001), the Pro-Cog and Pro-Emo (Sig < 0.001), the Per-Cog and Pro-Cog (Sig = 0.004), and the Per-Emo and Pro-Emo (Sig < 0.001). Females had significantly higher empathy scores (mean score 208.04) than males (mean score 192.5) on the Per-Cognitive, Per-Emo and Pro-Emo subscales. Furthermore, a positive correlation was found between empathy and factors such as love for animals, interest in medical ethics, belief in God, having an ill person in the family, class year or carrier intention.ConclusionsThe Toronto Composite Empathy Scale (TCES) is applicable to medical students. For the most part our findings were consistent with previous literature. However, we identified some nuances that might draw researchers’ attention.