Abstract
Introduction: Empathy is the ability to understand
patients’ ability and experiences and capability to
communicate this understanding. Empathy plays
important role in maintaining the relationship
between patient and clinician. The aim of the study
is assessment of empathy among dental students at
a tertiary hospital in Nepal using Jefferson scale of
physician empathy questionnaire.
Materials and Methods: This questionnaire based
study was conducted among undergraduate students
at Universal college of Medical Sciences (UCMS),
College of Dental Surgery, Bhairahawa, Nepal. Data
was collected from third year, fourth year students
and interns who were exposed to clinical postings.
Empathy was assessed by the Jefferson Scale of
Empathy, a 20 item self-reporting questionnaire.
Results: Empathy scale scores for subjects of different
years of education showed statistically significant
difference.
Conclusion: Jefferson scale questionnaire is a self-
administered and self-perceived inventory which
reports empathy level among the interns was higher
than other dental undergraduates.
References
bedside. Cambrigde, Massachussetts. The MIT
Press.2012- 336.
2. Davis MH. Measuring individual differences
in empathy: Evidence for a multidimensional
approach. J PersSocPsychol 1983; 44(1): 113–
126.8.
3. Duan C, Hill CE. The current state of empathy
research. J CounsPsychol 1996 43(3): 261–274.
4. Hogan R. Development of an empathy scale. J
Consult Clin Psychol 1969 33(3): 307–316.
5. Davis MH: Empathy: a social psychological
approach. Madison: Brown & Benchmark
Publishers; 1994.
6. Hojat M, Mangione S, Nasca TJ, Cohen MJM,
Gonnella JS, Erdmann JB,Veloski JJ, Magee
M et al.The Jefferson Scale of empathy:
development and preliminary psychometric
data. EducPsycholMeas 2001, 61:349–365.
7. Aring CD: Sympathy and empathy. JAMA
1958, 167:448–452.
8. Schouten BC, Eijkman MA, Hoogstraten J.
Dentists and Patients communicative behavior.
Community Dent Health 2003; 20(1):11-5.
9. American Dental Education Association.
Competencies for the new dentist. J Dent Educ2002;66:84951.
10. Chen D, Lew R, Hershman W, Orlander J. A
cross sectional measurement of medical student
empathy. J Gen Intern Med. 2007;22(10):1434-8.
11. Kataoka HU, Koide N, Ochi K, Hojat MR,
Gonnella JS. Measurement of empathy among
Japanese medical students: psychometrics and
score differences by gender and level of medical
education. Acad Med.2009;84:1192-7.
12. Vallabh K. Psychometrics of the student version
of the Jefferson Scale of Physician Empathy
(JSPE-S) in final year medical students in
Johannesburg in 2008. South African Journal of
BioethicsandLaw.2001;4(2):1.
13. Roh M, Hahm B, Lee D, Suh D. Evaluation of
empathy among Korean medical students: a
cross-sectional study using the Korean version
of the Jefferson Scale of Physician Empathy.
Teach Learn Med. 2010 ;22(3):167-71.
14. Mangione S, Kane G C, Caruso J W, Gonnella J
S, Nasca T J, Hojat M. Assessment of empathy
in different years of internal medicine training.
Med Teach.2002;24(4):370-3.
15. Sherman J J, Cramer A. A measurement of
changes in empathy during dental school. J
Dent Educ. 2005;69(3):338-45.
16. C.R.Chen Daniel, M.ElainePahilan, Jay D.
Orlander. Comparing a Self-Administered
Measure of Empathy with Observed Behavior
Among Medical Students .J Gen Intern Med
25(3):200–2.
17. Hojat M, Gonnella JS, Nasca TJ, Mangione
S, Vergare M, Magee M. Physician empathy:
Definition, components, measurement, and
relationship to gender and specialty. Am
J Psychiatry 2002;159:1563-9
18. Boyle M J, Williams B, Brown T. Level of
empathy in under graduate health science
students. Int JMed Educ 2010;1:1.
19. Magalhães E, Salgueira A P, Costa P, Costa
M J. Empathy in senior year and first year
medical students: A cross-sectional study. BMC
Med Educ 2011;11:52.
20. Rose G, Frankel N, Kerr W. Empathic and
socio-metricstatus among young teenagers.
J Genet Psychol 1956;89:277-8
21. Babar MG ,Omar H, Lim LP. An assessment
of dental students’ empathy levels in Malaysia.
IntJMedEduc2013;4:223‐9