AN INVESTIGATION OF THE COMPASSION LEVELS OF HEALTH PROFESSIONALS CANDIDATES

Abstract

The aim of this study is to determine the factors affecting the level of compassion andthe compassion levels of professionals candidates. The population of this studyconsisted of 1382 students from Nutrition and Dietetics, Child Development,Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation, Nursing and Health Management. “DemographicInformation Form” which was developed by researchers in the literature andCompassion Scale developed by Pommier (2011) and also adapted to Turkish byAkdeniz and Deniz (2016) which able to measure compassion towards others was usedas a data collection tool. In the study, 34.7% of the professional health candidates werein the Nutrition and Dietetics Department, 33% were 20 years old and 78.7% werewomen. The mean score of the Compassion Scale of all students was 4.22 ± 0.24. Therewas a statistically significant difference (p <.05) between the scores of the first grade tothe last grade. A statistically significant difference was found in terms of indifference,seperation, mindfulness, disengagement sub-dimensions and general compassion scalescores. It was determined that compassion levels of health professionals candidatesdiffered in terms of gender, class and income status. In light of the findings obtained, itcan be explained in the lessons as a subject of compassion for the awareness of theemotions that will affect the feelings of compassion of the students of the health sciencesfaculty who will be health professionals of the future.Keywords: Compassion; Health Professionals; Compassionate Health Care