Longitudinal Study of Empathy Levels in Physiotherapy Students
Conditions
Keywords
empathy, longitudinal studies, students
Brief summary
'Empathy' is a core term of occupations related to health sciences like physiotherapy. In physiotherapy education programs, empathy is necessary to have a successful cooperation with the clients. This study was planned to follow the changes of empathy levels in physiotherapy students of a four-year bachelor program and therefore enhance the curriculum related to the results. To the best of our knowledge, this research is the first longitudinal study about empathy levels of students in Turkey. Hypotheses: Empathy levels of the students increase year by year (1). Female students are more empathetic than male ones (2).
Detailed description
Totally 120 physiotherapy students at a non-governmental university in Istanbul participated in this study. The Turkish reworded student version of the Jefferson scale of physician empathy was used. Empathy scores were compared related to study years and gender. Empathy scores relevant to gender were compared using Mann-Whitney U test. The Kruskal-Wallis one-way analysis of variance was used for differences among the four study years.
Interventions
BEHAVIORALsurvey
The Turkish reworded student version of the Jefferson scale of physician empathy was used. Empathy scores were compared related to study years and gender.
Sponsors
Saglik Bilimleri Universitesi
Study design
Observational model
CASE_ONLY
Time perspective
PROSPECTIVE
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
19 Years to 24 Years
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
* attending the first through fourth year of physiotherapy department * being willing to participate in the study
Exclusion criteria
do not continue in physiotherapy department
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Empathy levels of the students | 5 minutes | It was measured if the empathy levels of the students increase year by year |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Empathy levels of female students | 5 minutes | It was measured if female students are more empathetic than male ones |
Outcome results
None listed