Department of Community Medicine and Behavioural Sciences (Biostatistics), Faculty of Medicine, Kuwait University, Jabriya, Kuwait.
Med Princ Pract. 2013;22(4):385-9. doi: 10.1159/000348300. Epub 2013 Mar 6.
To evaluate the level of empathy among medical students in Kuwait University Medical School and its association with sociodemographic factors, stress levels and personality.
A cross-sectional survey of 264 medical students was conducted in the Faculty of Medicine, Kuwait University. Empathy levels were measured using the Jefferson Scale, personality was assessed using the Zuckerman-Kuhlman Personality Scale and the Perceived Stress Scale was used to measure stress levels. Factors associated with empathy were evaluated using t test/ANOVA for categorical variables and correlation for continuous predictors.
Mean empathy score was 104.6 ± 16.3. Empathy scores were significantly associated with gender, year of study, mother's level of education, household income, satisfactory relationship with the mother and stress levels. Male medical students in their clinical years also had significantly lower empathy levels. However, factors such as grade point average, desired specialty, marital status of parents, father's educational level and relationship with father were not significantly (p > 0.05) associated with levels of empathy. Stress scores were significantly and positively associated with empathy (r = 0.13; p = 0.041).
Medical students in Kuwait University had low empathy level and this may be a cause for concern; as such we suggest a possible inclusion of emphasis on empathy in the curriculum.
评估科威特大学医学院医学生的同理心水平及其与社会人口因素、压力水平和个性的关系。
在科威特大学医学院对 264 名医学生进行了横断面调查。使用杰斐逊量表测量同理心水平，使用祖克曼-库尔曼人格量表评估人格，使用感知压力量表测量压力水平。使用 t 检验/方差分析评估与同理心相关的因素对于分类变量和连续预测因子的相关性。
平均同理心得分为 104.6 ± 16.3。同理心得分与性别、学习年限、母亲受教育程度、家庭收入、与母亲的满意关系和压力水平显著相关。处于临床阶段的男性医学生的同理心水平也明显较低。然而，平均绩点、期望专业、父母的婚姻状况、父亲的教育水平和与父亲的关系等因素与同理心水平没有显著相关（p>0.05）。压力得分与同理心呈显著正相关（r=0.13；p=0.041）。
科威特大学的医学生同理心水平较低，这可能令人担忧；因此，我们建议在课程中可能强调同理心。
