Babar Muneer Gohar, Hasan Syed Shahzad, Yong Wong Mei, Mitha Shahid, Al-Waeli Haider Abdulameer
All the authors contributed equally to this study. Dr. Babar is Associate Professor and Program Director, School of Dentistry, International Medical University, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Dr. Hasan is Lecturer, School of Pharmacy, International Medical University, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Wong Mei Yong was a student pursuing a BPharm degree, International Medical University, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia at the time of the study; Dr. Mitha is Senior Lecturer, School of Dentistry, International Medical University, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; and Dr. Al-Waeli is pursuing a PhD at Faculty of Dentistry, McGill University, Canada.
J Dent Educ. 2017 Apr;81(4):404-412. doi: 10.21815/JDE.016.008.
Empathy has been identified as a crucial foundation in building an effective dentist-patient relationship. The aim of this study was to assess patients' perceptions of dental students' empathic care in the primary oral health care clinic at International Medical University in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in May-October 2014. The study also assessed the validity and reliability of the Consultation and Relational Empathy (CARE) Measure in this setting; the association between number of encounters and students' CARE Measure scores; and the association between students' empathy (measured by the Toronto Empathy Questionnaire) and CARE Measure scores. Participants were 283 patients (aged ≥18 years) who were asked to self-complete the ten-item CARE Measure immediately after their clinical encounter with students who provided care under supervision of the teaching staff. The results showed that the CARE Measure demonstrated good internal consistency (Cronbach's α=0.95). A single factor solution emerged, accounting for 69% of the variance. The mean CARE Measure score in the consultations was 43.55±6.14, and 26% of the students achieved the maximum possible score of 50. The mean number of encounters with each student was 2.33±2.78. An increase of one episode was associated with an insignificant average CARE score decrease of 0.05 (-0.28, 0.38), whereas students' empathy was associated with a small increase in average CARE Measure score of 0.63 (0.08, 1.18). These results provide evidence of the measure's ability to support feedback to dental students on their empathy when interacting with patients.
同理心已被视为建立有效的医患关系的关键基础。本研究旨在评估2014年5月至10月在马来西亚吉隆坡国际医学大学初级口腔保健诊所中患者对牙科学生共情护理的看法。该研究还评估了咨询与关系同理心（CARE）量表在此环境中的有效性和可靠性；接触次数与学生CARE量表得分之间的关联；以及学生的同理心（通过多伦多同理心问卷测量）与CARE量表得分之间的关联。参与者为283名年龄≥18岁的患者，他们在与在教师监督下提供护理的学生进行临床接触后，被要求自行完成十项CARE量表。结果显示，CARE量表具有良好的内部一致性（Cronbach's α=0.95）。出现了一个单因素解决方案，解释了69%的方差。咨询中的CARE量表平均得分为43.55±6.14，26%的学生获得了50分的最高分。每个学生的平均接触次数为2.33±2.78。接触次数增加一次与平均CARE得分无显著下降0.05（-0.28，0.38）相关，而学生的同理心与平均CARE量表得分小幅增加0.63（0.08，1.18）相关。这些结果证明了该量表在为牙科学生提供与患者互动时的同理心反馈方面的能力。
