Empathic decline and training in nursing students

Abstract

Objective The objective of this article is to examine whether the levels of empathy fit the concept of empathic decline. Method This was a non-experimental and cross-sectional study. Two populations of nursing students in two nursing programs were studied: Universidad San Sebastián (Santiago, Chile) and Universidad Mayor (Temuco, Chile). The original data on empathy, assessed by the Jefferson Scale of Empathy, were combined into a single data base. They were then analyzed by means of normality tests and homoscedasticity, Cronbach’s alpha, analysis of variance; the standard deviation of the dependent outcome measure (Sy.x) and the coefficient of determination (R2) were estimated. Results The sample sizes from the two programs were 479 and 277, respectively. It was found that the distributions of the averages over the course of study for empathy (and its components) were constant, and in some cases increased. Conclusion It was found that the distribution of the means of empathy in the nursing students analyzed did not conform to the classical empathic decline observed in other studies. Therefore, it is inferred that the traditional factors identified as causes of empathic erosion were not operating in the same way in the studied context.

The effect of affective learning on alexithymia, empathy, and attitude toward disabled persons in nursing students: A randomized controlled study

“…Regardless of curriculum and teaching methods, the empathic tendency requires great attention for personality change 28 . Due to these aspects, it is very difficult to change, and this may be the reason for the lack of a significant change in empathic tendency score in the study 35 . According to these results, the second hypothesis on empathy was not approved.…”

“…28 Due to these aspects, it is very difficult to change, and this may be the reason for the lack of a significant change in empathic tendency score in the study. 35 According to these results, the second hypothesis on empathy was not approved.…”

Psychometric properties of the Jefferson Empathy Scale in four nursing student faculties

“…Because of its relevance, empathy has become important in the development of significant research. In a relatively large number of these studies, three principal factors have been focused on: gender, years of study, and different health specialties (4) . In dentistry and medicine students in Latin America several types of distribution have been found, which indicates variability, not only decline, in the distribution of empathy.…”

“…As regards gender, variability has also been found. Empathic decline and gender differences remain controversial, at least in Latin America (4) .…”

“…The empathic diagnoses should strongly relate to pedagogical actions, curricula modification, and the introduction of active teachinglearning processes, among many other aspects. All of these strategies need to be applied simultaneously and must function alongside and in accordance with empathic diagnoses (4,(35)(36)(37) , as various authors have long held (1,4,25) .…”