Division of Nutrition and Dietetics, Faculty of Medicine and Health, School of Health Sciences, International Medical University, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Nutr Diet. 2018 Sep;75(4):411-417. doi: 10.1111/1747-0080.12421. Epub 2018 Apr 6.
The health-care providers' empathy has been linked to better patient outcomes. The increased demand for dietetics services has called for dietitians to examine their clinical practices and encounters with patients. To date, there are limited studies published on empathy among dietitians. Hence, this study aimed to determine the clinical dietitians' empathy level in Malaysia.
Using a purposive sampling method, this study was conducted on dietitians practising in the Malaysian hospitals (government and private). The Toronto Empathy Questionnaire (TEQ), a validated 16-item questionnaire was self-administered, either by online survey method or face-to-face method. Additional information on gender, ethnicity, years of experience and percentage of working time spent on clinical, administrative and other areas were collected.
A total of 69 dietitians participated in the study (private (n = 36) and government (n = 33)). The dietitians' mean total TEQ scores were 49.72 ± 5.62 (score ranged between 35 and 63). Significant difference of mean total TEQ scores was found between dietitians from private (51.06 ± 5.26) and government hospitals (48.27 ± 5.72). There was no significant difference in the level of empathy by gender, ethnicity, years of experience and percentage of time spent on clinical consultations, administration or others while at work.
Results from this study showed that there were differences in empathy level of Malaysian dietitians by work setting. This preliminary finding serves as a baseline for future studies and could facilitate the development of dietetics education in Malaysia.
医疗保健提供者的同理心与更好的患者预后有关。对营养师服务的需求增加要求营养师检查他们的临床实践和与患者的接触。迄今为止，发表的关于营养师同理心的研究有限。因此，本研究旨在确定马来西亚临床营养师的同理心水平。
本研究采用目的抽样法，对在马来西亚医院（政府和私人）工作的营养师进行研究。多伦多同理心问卷（TEQ）是一种经过验证的 16 项问卷，通过在线调查或面对面的方式进行自我管理。收集了关于性别、种族、工作经验年限以及临床、行政和其他领域工作时间百分比的其他信息。
共有 69 名营养师参与了这项研究（私人（n=36）和政府（n=33））。营养师的平均总 TEQ 得分为 49.72±5.62（得分范围为 35 至 63）。来自私人（51.06±5.26）和政府医院（48.27±5.72）的营养师的平均总 TEQ 得分存在显著差异。在性别、种族、工作经验年限以及临床咨询、行政或其他工作时间百分比方面，同理心水平没有差异。
本研究结果表明，马来西亚营养师的同理心水平存在工作环境差异。这一初步发现为未来的研究提供了基础，并可以促进马来西亚的营养学教育发展。
