Examining the empathic and social self-efficacy levels and perception of medical values of medical faculty students

Objective: Physicians can best practice the art of medicine by having a high awareness of the factors that may have a determining role in their treatment success and professional satisfaction. In addition to theoretical and practical competence, the physician's communication skills and value perceptions can also play an important role at this point. This study was conducted to investigate the empathic and social self-efficacy and physician value perceptions of medical school students and to increase the awareness of physician candidates on this issue. Materials and Methods: The study was planned as a prospective, cross-sectional, descriptive study. The universe of the study consisted of 370 students from the first, third and sixth semesters of the Sanliurfa Harran University Faculty of Medicine. In order to obtain the data, a 17- question data collection form prepared by the researchers in the light of literature and not questioning sociodemographic characteristics, the Perceived Empathic and Social Self-Efficacy Scale, and the Medical Value Perception Scale were used. The questions were answered by the students who met the inclusion criteria and approved to participate in the study via an online survey. SPSS 25.0 statistical package program was used in the analysis of the data. The statistical alpha significance level was accepted as p<0.05. Results: : A total of 370 (100.0%) students participated in the study, 199 (53.8%) of whom were female and 171 (46.2%) were male. It was determined that 252 (68.1%) of the participants had chosen their profession willingly, and 170 (45.9%) had someone in their family or circle whom they considered a role model. The total score that the participants got from the AEÖYSÖY scale was 44.57 on average, with a standard deviation (sd) of 5.87. The total score they got from the HDA Scale was 79.28 on average, with a standard deviation (sd) of 8.63. The mean scores of women on the patientphysician relationship and physician attitude calculated according to the HDA scale were significantly higher than those of men (p=0.021, p:0.03). Participants aged 20-23 had a statistically XI significant higher mean scores on the patient-physician relationship sub-dimension, and those aged 17-19 had a statistically significant higher mean scores on the physician's empathy sub-dimension than those in other age groups (p=0.021, p:0.041). A statistically significant difference was found between the perceived social self-efficacy sub-dimension scores (p=0.010), physician value perception scores (p=0.042), patient-physician relationship sub-dimension scores (p:0.012), and physician's attitude sub-dimension scores (p=0.023) according to the type of residence before university. Perceived empathic and social self-efficacy scale scores and perceived empathic selfefficacy sub-dimension scores were significantly higher in individuals who stated that they had a high income (p=0.009; p=0.003). The mean scores of the perceived social self-efficacy sub-dimension of term-6 students (p=0.034), and the mean scores of the physician's empathy sub-dimension of term-3 students (p=0.007) are statistically significantly higher. According to the status of choosing the profession voluntarily, a statistically significant difference was found in the social self-efficacy subdimension, HDA, patient-physician relationship sub-dimension and physician's attitude subdimension due to yes (p:0.07, p:0.000, p:0.000, p:0.000, respectively). The scores of AEÖYSÖY, empathic self-efficacy sub-dimension and physician's empathy sub-dimension were found to be significantly higher in those who had a physician as a role model in the family or environment (p:0.028, p:0.015, p:0.012, respectively). (p<0.05). Conclusion: According to the study findings, although the empathic and social self-efficacy and medical value perception scores of the participating students are high, they show significant differences according to some sociodemographic variables such as age, gender, grade level, place of residence, family income status, choosing the profession willingly, being a role model in the environment, taking communication courses, considering specialization after graduation, and wanting to work in a private clinic/hospital. Keywords: Medical faculty, student, perception of medical value, self-efficacy, empathy