Sam Houston State University College of Osteopathic Medicine, Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, 925 City Central Avenue, Conroe, TX 77304, United States.
Sullivan University College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, 2100 Gardiner Lane, Louisville, KY 40205, United States.
Curr Pharm Teach Learn. 2021 Aug;13(8):975-981. doi: 10.1016/j.cptl.2021.06.014. Epub 2021 Jun 16.
Empathy is critical in building teacher-student relationships. Little research is available evaluating the empathetic capacity of faculty who teach in healthcare professional programs. This study's objectives were to describe how faculty define empathy, describe faculty perspectives on the role of empathy in pharmacy education, and discuss the potential barriers to demonstrating empathy to students.
A qualitative research approach was utilized for this study. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with faculty members randomly selected from an accelerated doctor of pharmacy program. All interviews were transcribed, and an interpretive phenomenological approach was used to describe, code, and analyze the experiences.
Results showed that faculty naturally define empathy more from an emotional aspect rather than a cognitive one. Faculty have a consensus on the role of empathy in education and believe it essential for building relationships with students and fostering positive learning environments. Further, most faculty think that empathy is an innate ability, but that empathy can be developed through life experiences and training. Significant challenges of being empathetic in educational environments are associated with the instructor, learner, and learning itself, including demanding time and energy, establishing boundaries, maintaining standards, and handling challenging students.
Faculty perceptions of empathy in education revealed empathetic teaching plays an essential role in building teacher-student relationships and positively impacting students' learning. Empathy is a critical skill and characteristic for healthcare profession educators to possess. The development of empathy training modules may be helpful to improve faculty's empathy.
同理心在建立师生关系中至关重要。目前几乎没有研究评估教授医疗保健专业课程的教师的同理心能力。本研究的目的是描述教师如何定义同理心，描述教师对同理心在药学教育中的作用的看法，并讨论向学生表现同理心的潜在障碍。
本研究采用定性研究方法。从一个加速药学博士课程中随机选择教师进行半结构化访谈。对所有访谈进行转录，并采用解释现象学方法来描述、编码和分析经验。
结果表明，教师自然更倾向于从情感方面而不是认知方面来定义同理心。教师对教育中同理心的作用达成共识，并认为同理心对于与学生建立关系和营造积极的学习环境至关重要。此外，大多数教师认为同理心是一种天生的能力，但同理心可以通过生活经验和培训来发展。在教育环境中表现出同理心的主要挑战与教师、学习者和学习本身有关，包括耗费时间和精力、建立界限、保持标准和处理有挑战性的学生。
教育中同理心的教师认知表明，富有同理心的教学在建立师生关系和积极影响学生学习方面发挥着重要作用。同理心是医疗保健专业教育者必须具备的关键技能和特征。开发同理心培训模块可能有助于提高教师的同理心。
