Medical students' individual and social empathy: A follow-up study.

The Social Empathy Index (SEI) measures self-reported empathy for individuals and for vulnerable groups. In a previous study, we published first-year medical students' SEI scores before and after completing a course on the social determinants of health. We re-administered the SEI to the original student cohort entering their 4th year. Survey data were analyzed for individual and social empathy components using repeated measures ANOVA. Associations of demographic data and the latest scores were analyzed using either two sample -test or ANOVA. Of 130 4th-year eligible medical students, 76 (58%) completed all three surveys. The mean "Affective Mentalizing" score increased by 0.15 points from the first to fourth year of medical school,  < 0.05. A concomitant decline was observed in "Emotional Regulation" decreasing 0.68 points,  < 0.001. "Contextual Understanding of Systemic Barriers" (CU) increased in mean score by 0.26 points,  = 0.006. Our findings support promoting interventions to combat a decline of emotional regulation in their clinical years. The consistent increase in CU at each follow-up testing point may indicate a need to focus on students' sense of self-efficacy in addressing the social determinants of health. Social empathy scores might predict which students are likely to choose primary care specialties.