Comparison of Self-Reported Empathy Levels among Dental Undergraduate Students in Northern India: A Questionnaire-Based Cross-Sectional Study.

CONTEXT

Empathy is one of the fundamentals of communication relevant within the practice of dentistry, and the research is limited in this field.

AIMS

The present study was conducted to assess the self-reported empathy levels among dental undergraduate students in Lucknow city of Northern India.

SETTINGS AND DESIGN

A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among three dental colleges of Lucknow city during July 2019-September 2019.

SUBJECTS AND METHODS

E-survey link was circulated among 790 students through e-mails. It has two parts. The first part included sociodemographic information, wherein the second part, the empathy level of students was assessed using the Jefferson Scale of Physician Empathy-Health Profession Students Version Questionnaire. The possible score range is 20-140: the higher the mean score, the higher the self-reported empathy level.

STATISTICAL ANALYSIS USED

The data collected were analyzed using SPSS software version 24. Chi-square test was used to test gender distribution differences among different years. One-way analysis of variance including tests was used to compare the differences between study variables.

RESULTS

The mean ± standard deviation empathy score was 92.55 ± 11.85, 91.85 ± 12.23, 93.25 ± 11.24, 93.37 ± 12.31, and 88.34 ± 12.01 among the first-year, second-year, third-year, final-year, and interns' students, respectively, with a statistically significant difference.

CONCLUSION

It can be concluded from the results of the present study that the mean empathy score was highest among final-year students which is suggestive of the impact of education in behavioral sciences.