Does medical students' empathy change during their 5-year MBBS degree?

Papageorgiou, Alexia, Miles, Susan and Fromage, Michelle ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0007-7330-0417 (2018) Does medical students' empathy change during their 5-year MBBS degree? Education for Health, 31 (3). pp. 142-147. ISSN 1357-6283

Full text not available from this repository. (Request a copy)

Abstract

Background: Research evidence over the past 20 years has established that doctors' ability to empathize with their patients is a crucial component of effective health care. Consequently, teaching and reinforcing empathy has entered undergraduate medical education curricula; however, there have been mixed results in terms of its effectiveness. While there is evidence that empathy fluctuates during undergraduate medical training, there has been very little longitudinal research looking at medical students' empathy levels over their full course of study. The aim of the current study was to investigate whether medical students' empathy changed during their 5-year MBBS degree. Methods: Students completed the medical student version of the Jefferson Scale of Physician Empathy (JSPE) at the start of Year 1 and then near the end of Years 2, 3, 4, and 5 during 2009-2015. Total empathy score for students who had completed the JSPE in all 5 years of medical training was compared over time using nonparametrical statistical analysis. Results: Results indicated that medical students' empathy varies with empathy being highest at the start of the medical course in Year 1, declining to a low in Year 3 and then rising again in Years 4 and 5. There was a tendency for female students to have higher empathy scores compared to male students in each of the 5 years, with scores significantly different in Years 2, 3, and 4. However, there were no differences in empathy scores according to the students' age. Discussion: The decline in empathy in the early years of undergraduate medical training is a concern. Medical educators should teach and reinforce empathy during early years of undergraduate medical training in a sustainable way to guard against declining empathy levels. Specific interventions targeted at increasing empathy in male students might be warranted in the future.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	Publisher Copyright: © 2019 Education for Health | Published by Wolters Kluwer - Medknow.
Uncontrolled Keywords:	empathy,jefferson scale of physician empathy,medical students,undergraduate medical education,medicine(all) ,/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/2700
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Norwich Medical School
Related URLs:	http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?...
Depositing User:	LivePure Connector
Date Deposited:	09 Jan 2024 01:39
Last Modified:	26 Jan 2024 02:14
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/94119
DOI:	10.4103/efh.EfH_279_17

Actions (login required)

View Item