Abstract
The objective of this article is to examine whether the levels of empathy fit the concept of empathic decline. This was a non-experimental and cross-sectional study. Two populations of nursing students in two nursing programs were studied: Universidad San Sebastián (Santiago, Chile) and Universidad Mayor (Temuco, Chile). The original data on empathy, assessed by the Jefferson Scale of Empathy, were combined into a single data base. They were then analyzed by means of normality tests and homoscedasticity, Cronbach's alpha, analysis of variance; the standard deviation of the dependent outcome measure (Sy.x) and the coefficient of determination (R2) were estimated. The sample sizes from the two programs were 479 and 277, respectively. It was found that the distributions of the averages over the course of study for empathy (and its components) were constant, and in some cases increased. It was found that the distribution of the means of empathy in the nursing students analyzed did not conform to the classical empathic decline observed in other studies. Therefore, it is inferred that the traditional factors identified as causes of empathic erosion were not operating in the same way in the studied context.
Highlights
It is known that empathy is an attribute that all nursing professionals must have for positive overall outcomes with patients[1,2]
The range of values of the levels indicated was small and this change was not quantitatively remarkable. Since this component can be taught, these results could account for a structural failure in the curriculum of both universities in relation to the teaching of this component in all courses, but at the same time, these results show that students did not decrease their levels, that is, they were not affected by empathic erosion
It was found that the distribution of the means for levels of empathy in the nursing students analyzed do not conform to classical empathic decline
Summary
It is known that empathy is an attribute that all nursing professionals must have for positive overall outcomes with patients[1,2]. The empathy developed by nursing professionals depends (in part) on the empathic training process during their years as students[3],and their time in universities is the last opportunity to develop it. There are no detailed studies in relation to: a) how empathy and its components behave in the process of university education; and b) the process of empathic decline that students are assumed to experience. Such knowledge is of great significance when focusing on empathic interventions
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
