Empathy, Components of Empathy and Curricular Evaluation of the Faculty of Dentistry, Evangelical University of El Salvador

Abstract

Objective: To estimate empathy levels in general and empathic growth potential in dental students. Material and Methods: This is an exploratory, transversal study. The study population is made up of students from the first to fifth academic year of the career of dentistry of the Evangelical University of El Salvador (El Salvador) (148/240, 61.67% of the population studied). The participants were given the Jefferson Empathy Medical Scale, the Spanish version for medical students, validated in Chile and Mexico, and culturally adapted in El Salvador. A bifactorial variance analysis (model III) was applied to find differences in the means between the courses, between the genders and in the interaction between these two factors. The data were described using simple arithmetic graphs, processed with SPSS 22.0. Total growth potential was estimated. Results: Differences were found between academic years, but not in gender of empathy in general and in its components. The levels of empathy and its components are low in relation to other studies. The behavior of the levels of empathy agrees with the concept of empathic decline. The masculine gender presented levels of empathy, in absolute values, greater than the feminine. There is considerable potential for growth in empathy and that of its components. Conclusion: The behavior of the levels of empathy observed in this work does not agree with the concept of empathic decline. The differences observed between the genders were not consistent with those reported by other authors and it is possible that these findings constitute further evidence that empathy itself is not a female attribute.

Psychometry and empathy levels and its dimensions in postgraduate students of dental specialties

“…In the case of undergraduate education, interventions should be carefully planned, as deeply as possible, sustained over a long time and should include complex actions provided by specialised interdisciplinary teams. 40,44,49 In relation to the differences between the different dental specialties, already discussed above, the authors of the present work Therefore, the practical importance of this study is to infer that empathic training of graduate students in dental specialties does not depend on the training they receive at this level, but on the training they have received ("inherited") in undergraduate education.…”

“…However, it has been observed that such trend is not representative of the empirical data obtained by some authors which reflect conflicting results. 22,[32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45] On the other hand, gender empathy has been studied in homozygotic and dizygotic twins 46 and possible gender-specific innate and environmental influences on empathy and its cognitive and emotional components were found. In relation to the differences found in the present work (higher in women) in the values of Empathy and PA, and, in particular with the PA dimension.…”

Psychometry and estimation of cutoff points of Jefferson Scale of empathy in dental students

“…As a consequence, a single “significant” change could be interpreted as a success, even though that change may not be that successful. Given that the concept of empathy is complex, the construction of cutoff points becomes important as a quantitative structure that makes it possible to quantify the magnitude of change in these levels and, furthermore, to have certain points of reference to credit the real meaning and true impact of an intervention to raise empathy levels 3,6,8,10,35–37 …”

“…In Latin America, empathy has been examined in students of different careers. One of the most commonly used instruments is the Jefferson Scale of Physician Empathy (version S)(JSPE‐S) for medical students, adapted for other health careers, and in this case dental students 3,4–11 . Its psychometric characteristics have been exhaustively studied and are comprised of 3 components or dimensions: perspective adoption (PA), compassionate care (CC), and “walking in patient's shoes”(WIPS) 9,12–19 .…”

Changes in Empathy Levels on Dentistry’s Students of Public University in Cartagena City, Colombia

“…Regarding this fact, when reviewing the curricular contents for the cohorts of the years compared, it is evident that curricular contents could be considered as modifiers of the empathy levels in students [27,28]. To the present study our could identify that the curricular contents and professors were not necessarily the same for both cohorts, which indicates that the developed theme by professors by virtue of their methodological strategies, the way students are evaluated and finally the learning atmosphere can generate variations in students' perception of the educational environment, which has a direct relation and relevance to their well-being and fulfillment of the academic achievements [29], about the latter, within the academic achievements could emphasize the development of relevant and required humanistic and social skills for health care.…”