Abstract- Poster

Abstract

Background:Empathy is a multidimensional construct and is considered an essential attribute among healthcare professionals. Jefferson Scale for Empathy (JSE) is a commonly used tool to measure physician empathy, and has been used in medical students also. We studied the factor structure of JSE among medical undergraduates.Methods:This was secondary analysis of baseline data obtained from Stigma, Empathy and Attitude module study among medical undergraduates (N=156). The scores obtained on 20 item JSE medical student version were subjected to principal component analysis with varimax rotation. Eigenvalues greater than unity, Scree plot and Horn’s parallel analysis were used for identifying the factors. Items with loading more than 0.4 were included based on Steven’s recommendation.Results:The sample was adequate for factor analysis (KMO measure 0.832). Five factors were extracted using principal component analysis which explained 60% of the variance. The first three appeared as stable factors, and the last two factors had 2 items each. The first factor was the strongest (explained 18.8% of variance) with loadings from 9 items. The second factor (explained 15.6% of variance) had loadings from 6 items, and two of the items showed correlation with the first factor.Conclusions:JSE was a multidimensional tool with five factors in medical undergraduates. The findings were similar to three to four factors obtained in several other populations.