The relationship between empathy and altruistic motivations in nursing studies: A cross-sectional study

Abstract

Background. According to the biopsychosocial approach and patient-centred models, efficient management of relational competences by healthcare professionals is crucial to affect a patient’s treatment and care process positively. Empathy is one of the major components of the relational skills expected of health professionals. The knowledge of the empathic ability of undergraduate healthcare students represents important information for educators in defining specific and efficient educational programs aimed at supporting or enhancing empathic competences. In this study, we measured the attitude towards the value of health professional empathy in clinical encounters of the first-year undergraduate nursing students. Motivations for a nursing education choice were also evaluated. We expected a significant association between students’ positive attitude towards the value of health professional empathy and the prosocial and altruistic motivations in choosing nursing studies. Methods. A cross-sectional study was performed on 77 first-year nursing students. The Jefferson Scale of Empathy – Health Professions Student Version was administered. The motivations for choosing nursing studies were detected through an open question.Results. Seven distinct themes, distinguishing between internal and external motivational factors, were identified through the thematic analysis of students’ answers regarding their choice for entering the nursing degree course. On the empathy scale, females gained higher scores than males. When the age was considered, this difference was shown only for younger students, with young females’ total scores being higher than that of young males. High scores of empathy were positively associated with altruistic motivational factors. A negative correlation was found between external motivational factors and the scores of the Compassionate Care subscale of the Jefferson Scale of Empathy. Conclusions. Knowing the level of nursing students’ empathy and their motivational factors for entering nursing studies is important for educators to implement training paths that enhance students’ relational attitudes and skills and promote positive motivational aspects central for this profession.