Empathic diagnosis among medical students in the Dominican Republic: declination and gender

Abstract

Introduction: Empathic decline is characterized by a decrease in the levels of empathy. Objective: To diagnose empathic behavior in students of the Pedro Henríquez Ureña National University School of Medicine, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Material and Methods: Exploratory, cross-sectional study. The Jefferson Medical Empathy Scale was applied. Cronbach’s alpha, intraclass correlation coefficient, Hotelling’s T2 and Tukey’s additivity test, central tendency and dispersion statistics and a bifactorial analysis of variance, Tukey’s test and Breusch-Pagan heterozygosity were estimated. The level of significance was α ≤ 0.05 and β ≥0.80. Results: High levels of empathy were found (108.81 ± 14.12). It was observed that the model of empathic decline was not fulfilled and women were more empathic than men. Conclusions: The diagnosis of empathic behavior can be characterized because the growth of empathy through the courses seems to depend mainly on the growth of the Compassionate Care dimension. In the sixth year (clinical clerkship) the students increase the levels of empathy and its dimensions, contradicting the model of empathic decline.