Aggarwal Vikram Pal, Garg Robin, Goyal Nikita, Kaur Puneet, Singhal Sakshi, Singla Nancy, Gijwani Deeksha, Sharma Aditi
Department of Public Health Dentistry, Surendera Dental College and Research Institute, Sri Ganganagar, Rajasthan, India.
Department of Prosthodontics Including Crown and Bridge, Surendera Dental College and Research Institute, Sri Ganganagar, Rajasthan, India.
Dent Res J (Isfahan). 2016 Sep;13(5):419-423. doi: 10.4103/1735-3327.192279.
Empathy plays an important role in healthy dentist and patient relationship. Hence, the aim of the study is to (a) to measure the self-reported empathy levels among dental undergraduate and postgraduate students. (b) To review the trend of changes in empathy level with experience, age, and gender among dental undergraduate and postgraduate students.
This cross-sectional, questionnaire-based study was carried out in two private dental institutions situated in Sri Ganganagar, India, with a sample size of 978. Data were obtained from the 1 to final year (BDS), interns, and postgraduate students from January to March 2015. An empathy level of students was assessed by the Jefferson Scale of Physician Empathy - Health Profession Students Version Questionnaire. An exploratory factor analysis using Kaiser's criteria was undertaken to appraise the construct validity and dimensionality. Based on the results of the factor analysis, three factors were selected; labeled as perspective taking, compassionate care, and standing in patient's shoes.
The majority of the students was female in a equivalent ratio of 1338:618. There were significant differences in empathy scores by gender and age ( < 0.01). The lowest and highest mean empathy scores were found in postgraduate (mean = 108.77, standard deviation [SD] =9.12) and 1 year (mean = 117.23, SD = 14.19) dental students, respectively.
Dental educators should consider the likely decline in empathy among students as early as possible and adopt communication teaching strategies to promote the development of empathy and reduce the risk of further decline.
同理心在健康的医患关系中起着重要作用。因此，本研究的目的是：（a）测量牙科本科和研究生自我报告的同理心水平。（b）回顾牙科本科和研究生中同理心水平随经验、年龄和性别的变化趋势。
本横断面、基于问卷的研究在印度斯里甘加纳格尔的两家私立牙科机构进行，样本量为978。数据收集自2015年1月至3月的1年级至最后1年级（牙医学士）学生、实习生和研究生。学生的同理心水平通过杰斐逊医生同理心量表 - 健康专业学生版问卷进行评估。采用基于凯泽准则的探索性因素分析来评估结构效度和维度。根据因素分析结果，选择了三个因素；分别标记为换位思考、同情关怀和设身处地为患者着想。
学生中女性占大多数，比例为1338:618。同理心得分在性别和年龄方面存在显著差异（<0.01）。同理心平均得分最低和最高的分别是研究生（平均 = 108.77，标准差[SD]=9.12）和1年级牙科学生（平均 = 117.23，SD = 14.19）。
牙科教育工作者应尽早考虑学生同理心可能下降的情况，并采用沟通教学策略来促进同理心的发展，降低进一步下降的风险。
