Empathic tendency evaluation of dietitians working in Ankara

Empathy is one of the key elements of healthy communication. Dietitians have to have developed empathic skills in order to communicate face to face with the patients. This study was conducted to determine the empathic tendency levels of dietitians working in Ankara. The study was carried out in February-June of 2016 with 175 dietitians from Ankara who attended voluntarily. The Empathic Tendency Scale (ETS) and Empathic Skill Scale (ESS) which are developed by Dökmen (1988) and Rosenberg Self-Esteem Inventory (RSI) which is developed by Rosenberg (1965), were used to collect data in this study. In addition, a questionnaire was developed by there searcher to determine the demographic and occupational characteristics of the participants. EEO median score of Dietitians was found to be 73. The median score is 133 ESS. The median score of Dietitians of self-esteem was found to be 32. While female dietician ETS median scores 73, men has been identified as 69 points. The level of education increases, has been shown to also increase the empathic tendencies. While graduate degree dieticians' ETS median score is 73, PhD graduates have 77 points (p<0.05). When inventory data is analyzed according to the working area, hospital and university employees were found to have the same ETS points (median=73). While empathic skills scores of hospital staff is 137, although it is seen as having 127 points of university employees, it was not statistically significant (p>0.05). As a conclusion, it is evaluated that, despite having a high empathic tendency dietitian are not able to manage empathic skills. A series education program on empathy and communication skills will be beneficial for dietitians to built-up empathic skills and this will enhance the Professional success in work places. Keywords; empathy, empathic tendency, empathic skills, self-esteem.