Comparison of general empathy levels and medical empathy skills of Akdeniz University Faculty of Medicine students and evaluation of the change in empathy levels during medical education

Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the empathy levels of medical students and to evaluate the effect of medical education on the development of empathy skills. Method: This study is a cross-sectional descriptive study conducted in 2017-2018 academic year with students studying at Akdeniz University Faculty of Medicine. Data collection form, Toronto Empathy Questionnaire (TEQ) and Jefferson Scale of Physician Empathy (JSPE) was applied to the students by the researcher to evaluate sociodemographic features, to assess general empathy skills and physician empathy skills face to face, respectively. Data were analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics 22 program. T-test, ANOVA test, Spearman and Pearson correlation analysis were used in the comparison and p <0.05 was considered significant. Results: Three hundred medical students were included in the study. The mean age of the students was 21.5±2.1 (ranged 18-30) and 176 (58.7%) of the students were female. The mean score obtained from the TEQ was 52.8±6.1; the mean score from the JSPE was 80.3±9.2. The general empathy scores of the students who had any habits, those who chose the medical faculty voluntarily and women were found to be statistically higher (p <0.05). When the students' physician empathy skills were evaluated according to the class they were studying, the scale score of the third year students was found to be statistically higher than the score of the last year students (p <0.05). Conclusion: Contrary to expectations, physician empathy skills of the students participating in the study decreased during medical education. Empathy is ignored in most of the medical schools in Turkey and do not provide enough in medical education. This deficiency should be recognized as soon as possible and necessary arrangements should be made. Key Words: Empathy, Medical Education, Jefferson Scale of Physician Empathy, Toronto Empathy Questionnaire