Dental education includes the development of manual skills to perform tasks needed to train students to drill for the elimination of caries or for restorative purposes. 1 Historically, cadaver teeth have been used to train dental students in these drilling procedures but, for ethical, legal and biological reasons, 2 they have been replaced by artificial teeth made of plastic. 1,3 Contemporary technology allowed the development of haptic virtual simulators (HVS); in recent years, their use has been growing exponentially in medical and dental education. 4-6 High-fidelity simulators can be an interactive didactic tool that allows students to perform certain professional tasks in a safer and more controlled environment. This performance requires the mobilisation and integration of their knowledge and skills in order to solve simulated clinical situations. 1-3 Also, the combined use of both HVS and conventional Phantom-head systems improves spatial

This study aimed to establish the relationship between empathy and personality styles in medical students, considering the differences by gender. The participants were 278 students of the medical career of the Universidad del Azuay, Ecuador. They were evaluated using the Jefferson empathy scale and the Millon Index of Personality Styles. Relationships between empathy and personality styles were examined using Pearson's correlation coefficient and hierarchical multiple linear regression analysis, for comparisons by gender and educational levels; with both Student's t test and analysis of variance used respectively. Results indicated that the factor structure of the empathy scale is invariant between men and women, noticing gender differences in care with compassion and total empathy, with women presenting a higher mean. Differences are observed by educational level, where the general empathy in the first three years grows progressively, and then slightly decrease. In conclusion,  female students present a mean score of total empathy greater than men, with differences of empathy according to educational level

Objective To evaluate the psychometric properties of the Jefferson Medical Empathy Scale, Spanish version (JSE-S), its factorial structure, reliability, and the presence of invariance between genders in the behavior of empathy levels among Chilean nursing students. Method Instrumental research design. The JSE-S was applied to 1,320 nursing students. A confirmatory factor analysis was used. An invariance study between genders was carried out. Descriptive statistics were estimated. Between genders, Student’s T distribution was applied alongside a homoscedasticity analysis. The level of significance was α ≤ 0.05. Results The confirmatory factor analysis determined the existence of three dimensions in the matrix. The statistical results of the invariance tests were significant, and allowed comparison between genders. Differences were found between mean empathy values, as well as in some of its dimensions between genders. Conclusion The factor structure of empathy data and its dimensions is in correspondence with the underlying three-dimensional model. There are differences in empathy levels and their dimensions between genders, with the exception of the compassionate care dimension, which was distributed similarly. Women were more empathetic than men.

Objetivo Verificar que la estructura factorial de los datos observados en médicos estén en correspondencia con la estructura factorial teórica de la empatía. Materiales y Métodos: Estudio realizado en el cantón de Cuenca (Ecuador) en 2020. Diseño descriptivo y transversal. La muestra estuvo constituida por 223 médicos que trabajaban en el Sector Público, quienes respondieron voluntariamente la Escala de Empatía Médica de Jefferson. Variables dependientes: niveles de empatía y sus dimensiones. Independientes: género, nivel de atención y especialidad. Se estimó la normalidad y homocedasticidad, Análisis Factorial Confirmatorio, Invarianza entre grupos, análisis de varianza trifactorial y de un factor, t-Student y d de Cohen. El nivel de significación fue α≤ .05. Resultados: Se observa una adecuada consistencia interna, se confirma el modelo de tres dimensiones del instrumento original. No existen diferencias entre los géneros (p> .05), pero si entre los tipos de atención y entre las especialidades (p< .05). Los datos observados tienen la estructura factorial teórica asociada al instrumento empleado en la medición de la empatía. Conclusión: El análisis multigrupo permite asumir invarianza factorial de la empatía entre los géneros, sin que se logre especificar un modelo según tipos de atención al paciente. Los niveles de empatía global fueron mayores en la atención primaria en relación con la hospitalaria y mayor en las especialidades de Pediatría y Medicina Familiar (unidas).

Objective: To explore the distribution of general and particular levels of empathy among the different family functioning styles of medical students of the University of Azuay in the city of Cuenca, Ecuador. Materials and methods: Exploratory and cross-sectional study. Student empathy levels were measured through the Jefferson Medical Empathy Scale, S-version in Spanish and family functioning through the Family Functioning Scale Faces-20 in a sample of 278 medical students. The comparison of data was carried out by means of analysis of bifactorial variance model III. The level of significance used was α≤ 0.05 and 1- β ≤ 0.20. Results: The analysis of the general empathy variance was significant (p <0.05) for the family functioning style factor. The results on the dimensions of empathy:” Take on perspective” and “Ability to understand the situation of the other” were significant (p = 0.035; p = 0.044) for the family functioning style factor. Regarding the “Care with compassion” dimension, no significant differences were observed (p> 0.05). On the other hand, it was found that extreme family functioning styles have empathy values ​​greater than the intermediate style, with significant differences between them (p <0.05). Conclusion: There is a relationship between the type of family functioning and empathy. Extreme family functioning style have higher empathy values ​​than intermedium families. Regarding the gender factor, these differences were not presented.