Faisal Amna, Akhlaq Saira, Bhatti Naveed
Community and Preventive Dentistry, Dental College, Heavy Industries Taxila Education City-Institute of Medical Sciences (HITEC-IMS), Taxila, PAK.
School of Health Professions Education, Shifa College of Medicine, Shifa Tameer-E-Millat University (STMU), Islamabad, PAK.
Cureus. 2025 Feb 16;17(2):e79104. doi: 10.7759/cureus.79104. eCollection 2025 Feb.
Empathy is a defining trait for healthcare professionals as it fosters trust and understanding between providers and patients. In medical and dental education, empathy is required for enhancing protective health outcomes. Empathy levels vary among medical students throughout their medical schooling and are impacted by factors such as curriculum structure, clinical exposure, and personal characteristics.
This study aimed to compare empathy scores corresponding to different levels of curricular integration as defined by Harden, in order to identify any potential differences in empathy levels between two groups.
Two study samples, one consisting of medical students and the other of dental students, completed the Kiersma-Chen Empathy Scale-Revised (KCES-R). Empathy scores were assessed across two levels of curriculum integration based on Harden's integration ladder.
The results indicated that students instructed at a higher level of curricular integration reported higher empathy scores compared to those instructed at a lower integration level.
In conclusion, the findings of this study suggest a positive relationship between curricular integration and empathy scores in medical and dental students.
同理心是医疗保健专业人员的一项决定性特质，因为它能促进医护人员与患者之间的信任和理解。在医学和牙科教育中，同理心对于改善健康保护结果至关重要。医学生在整个医学学习过程中的同理心水平各不相同，并受到课程结构、临床接触和个人特质等因素的影响。
本研究旨在比较与哈登所定义的不同课程整合水平相对应的同理心得分，以确定两组之间同理心水平的任何潜在差异。
两个研究样本，一个由医学生组成，另一个由牙科学生组成，完成了基尔斯马-陈同理心量表修订版（KCES-R）。根据哈登的整合阶梯，在两个课程整合水平上评估同理心得分。
结果表明，接受更高课程整合水平指导的学生相比接受较低整合水平指导的学生，报告的同理心得分更高。
总之，本研究结果表明医学和牙科学生的课程整合与同理心得分之间存在正相关关系。
