Background Given the influence that personality can have on empathy, this study explores the relationship between empathy and personality, using three different measures of empathy, and taking into account gender and specialty preference. Methods Cross-sectional study. One hundred and ten medical students completed the Jefferson Scale of Physician Empathy, the Interpersonal Reactivity Index, the Empathy Quotient, and the NEO-FFI Big Five personality model . Multivariable linear regression was performed to assess the association between personality traits and empathy. Results Empathy scales showed weak and moderate correlation with personality. The strongest correlations were observed between IRI-Fantasy and Openness, and between IRI-Personal Distress and Neuroticism. Gender and specialty preference can modify this relationship. The extreme groups of Empathy Quotient had significant differences in most personality traits. Conclusions This study confirmed that empathy is related to personality. Using three empathy scales allows personalizing the evaluation of different empathy models and its relation with personality. These results can help to design programs to study if some personalized intervention strategies could improve the empathy in medical students. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s12909-019-1485-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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Experiencing empathy in medical students: sensorial deprivation Aim. To identify emotions experienced by medical students in a workshop of sensory deprivation to enhance empathy. Subjects and methods. The workshop program (visual deprivation, auditory deprivation and physical disabilities) is presented. Emotions are identifi ed and measured by Self-Assessment Manikin scale. Medical empathy is measured by Jeff erson Scale of Physician Empathy. Results and conclusions. Sensory deprivation can experience diff erent types of emotions. Identify them allows medical students to be more sensitive to people with disabilities and increase empathy.

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The COVID-19 pandemic has led to the introduction of a series of recommendations to safeguard public health that must be applied in public spaces. This research analyses the effects that these recommendations have had on levels of stress experienced by the population when out in public spaces. It starts from measurements of Heart Rate Variation (HRV) that were carried out on the same individuals both before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. The results obtained point, in most cases, to an increase in the level of stress suffered, particularly in contexts in which there is an important presence of population or where people have not followed health care recommendations.

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