Assessing Empathy and Self-Efficacy Levels of Pharmacy Students in an Elective Diabetes Management Course

Abstract

Objective. To assess the impact of a 6-week patient/provider interaction simulation on empathy and self-efficacy levels of diabetes management skills in third-year pharmacy students. Design. Pharmacy students enrolled in a diabetes elective course were paired to act as a patient with diabetes or as a provider assisting in the management of that patient during a 6-week simulation activity. After 3 weeks, students switched roles. The simulation was designed with activities to build empathy. Assessment. The Jefferson Scale of Empathy (JSE) and a self-efficacy survey were administered to assess change in empathy and confidence levels from baseline to the end of the activity. Completion of the activity resulted in significant improvement in total JSE scores. Additionally, significant improvements in overall self-efficacy scores regarding diabetes management were noted. Conclusion. The 6-week patient/provider interaction simulation improved empathy and self-efficacy levels in third-year pharmacy students.

The Roles of Empathy, Attachment Style, and Burnout in Pharmacy Students’ Academic Satisfaction

“…5 Classically, empathy incorporates the aptitude for experiencing others' psychological states, the ability to comprehend others' feelings, and the capacity to see the world through another person's perspective. Although arduous to integrate into the school curriculum 6 and clinical practice, the training and teaching of a patient-centered communication and empathic care needs to be developed for effective communication in professional life 7,8 and has been progressively recommended and included in pharmacy schools. [8][9][10][11] Appropriate and sound therapeutic recommendations, from pharmacists are a far more valuable contribution if adequately and professionally communicated.…”

Cognitive, Behavioral and Emotional Empathy in Pharmacy Students: Targeting Programs for Curriculum Modification

“…When large sample sizes are evaluated, self-assessment questionnaires are the most efficient and the Jefferson Scale of Physician Empathy ( Hojat et al, 2001 ), and student empathy ( Hojat et al, 2004 ) were developed for this purpose. Prior research has assessed empathy levels and tracked its temporal and individual psychosocial differences in medical ( Mehrabian et al, 1988 ), paramedic ( Nunes et al, 2011 ) and allied health professionals ( Williams et al, 2014 ), and similar research on pharmacy students is rapidly growing ( Vogt and Finley, 2009 ; Fjortoft et al, 2011 ; Manolakis et al, 2011 ; Nunes et al, 2011 ; Darbishire et al, 2012 ; Van Winkle et al, 2012a , b, 2013a ; Wilson et al, 2012 ; Chen et al, 2015 ; Jeon and Cho, 2015 ; Kerr et al, 2015 ; Lor et al, 2015 ). However, very little is known about individual differences in emotional, cognitive, and behavioral empathy.…”

A Music Assignment to Develop Pharmacy Students’ Empathy Toward People with Opioid Use Disorder

“…This could be because of the resources and time needed to develop student ability in this area, as demonstrated in numerous studies. [2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11] This is contrary to data demonstrating that the physicians' affect can impact levels of patient satisfaction and treatment adherence, [12][13][14][15][16] which likely correlates to the profession of pharmacy in a similar manner. One aspect of affect includes the concept of empathy, which is defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary as "the action of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experience of another of either the past or present without having the feelings, thoughts, and experience fully communicated in an objectively explicit manner; and the capacity for this."…”