Empathic Abilities Research Articles

A Holistic Approach of Personality Traits in Medical Students: An Integrative Review.

Personality is one of the most crucial aspects of human life, since it influences all human behaviours in both personal and social life, and might also trigger important conflicts with a person’s surroundings in the setting of incompatible traits and characteristics. It is true that ‘one must be born’ for a certain medical specialty, but several components of personality might be educated with proper training. Increased levels of Conscientiousness, Agreeableness, and Openness associated with lower levels of Neuroticism might represent the key combination for achieving professional satisfaction in the medical profession. Medical students should receive proper interprofessional education, since effective interprofessional relationships among healthcare providers definitely improve patients’ safety. Empathy contributes to effective patient–physician communication, improving patient trust, compliance, and satisfaction, being positively correlated with Openness, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness and Extraversion. Emotional intelligence—the capacity to respond to one’s own and others’ emotions—was proven to contribute, in a synergistic way with empathy, to increasing empathic ability. Clinical communication skills represent a key component in medical students in order to achieve the best patient care, and they are certainly related and/or influenced by empathy, interprofessional collaboration skills, emotional intelligence and, especially, personality traits. Taking into account the complex interactions mentioned above, the implementation of effective courses based on these concepts in medical students, intending to promote the development of clinical communication skills, represents a real emergency, since it might result in a reduction in medical errors and subsequent related deaths. A thorough understanding of students’ personality is mandatory before designing these courses in order to provide a training tailored to their personality styles.

How therapists' emotion recognition relates to therapy process and outcome.

Empathy is an essential characteristic for therapists that explained 9% of the variance in treatment outcomes. Many measures of empathy are based on self-report questionnaires. Therefore, they reflect how a person perceives his empathic abilities, which can be biased from his true abilities. The ability to recognize emotions has been found to be related to empathy and serves as a measure for the use of empathic abilities. In this study, we examined therapists' empathic abilities, using a novel task for recognizing emotions, and looked at how they related to the therapy process and outcomes. The study included 33 patient-therapist dyads. Therapist empathy was assessed with an emotion detection task, the JeFEE. Clients filled questionnaires after each session regarding therapy progress and their symptoms. We found that emotion recognition moderated the change in (a) client secure attachment to therapist, (b) client avoidant attachment to therapist, (c) client working alliance, (d) client rate of tense or upset they felt during the session, (e) client lack of emotional clarity of emotions, (f) client non-acceptance of emotional responses, (g) client overall emotion regulation and (h) client main target complaint. Implication for therapy and therapists' selection and training are discussed.

Analysis of the attributes of smart tourism technologies in destination chatbots that influence tourist satisfaction

ABSTRACT Chatbots are an emerging technology that is disrupting the tourism industry. Despite their implementation in companies and at destinations, there is little research that evaluates chatbots’ smart tourism technologies (STTs) attributes and their influence on tourist satisfaction. This study seeks to examine the relationship between informativeness, empathy, accessibility, interactivity and chatbot user satisfaction. The research was based on an experiment and a survey conducted on a sample of 468 potential tourists who used a chatbot during their trip. Statistical tools such as exploratory factor analysis and the hierarchical regression method were used in the data analysis. The results suggest that informativeness, empathy and interactivity of destination chatbots are the attributes that influence and predict tourist satisfaction while accessibility does not. The main contribution of this study is the analysis of the attributes of STTs applied to destination chatbots, which also provides valuable information for both tourism chatbot developers and smart destination managers who wish to adopt this technology. Highlights The communication with a chatbot resembles the dialogues they have with human agents. Informativeness is a predictor factor in users’ satisfaction with chatbot The empathic ability of the chatbot is a factor that predicts user satisfaction A high level of interactivity in a human-chabot interaction predicts user satisfaction

Individualized Prediction of Females' Empathic Concern from Intrinsic Brain Activity within General Network of State Empathy.

Empathy can be measured based on behavioral tasks and self-report scales, which have been used to characterize the state and trait empathy, respectively, in previous studies. The neural correlates of state empathy have been deeply investigated, whereas the association between trait empathy and brain activity remains unclear. Thus, this study employed multiple variate pattern analysis (MVPA) to explore whether intrinsic brain activity (IBA) within state-empathy-related regions was associated with trait empathy. Meta-analysis of empathy-related fMRI experiments identified a general network underlying state empathy, which is located in the bilateral supplementary motor area (SMA) extending to the middle cingulate cortex (MCC) and left anterior insula (AI) and extending to the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG). The subsequent MVPA found that empathic concern can be predicted through the IBA of the general network at the female individual level (i.e., the fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations and regional homogeneity). Based on the resting state fMRI (rs-fMRI), these results further support the involvement of SMA/MCC and AI/IFG in empathy. Meanwhile, the significant predictive association between IBA and trait empathy offers new insights into the general component of empathy, which may indicate the potential of using rs-fMRI to achieve the objective measurement of empathic ability.

Tablet applications as socializing platforms: The effects of prosocial touch screen applications on young children's prosocial behavior

The high prevalence of touch screen devices in the lives of preschool children has prompted increased research on the effects of tablets on children's learning and skills. However, to date, little empirical research has investigated how this technology can influence young children's socio-emotional learning. The present study reports two experiments that examined the effects of playing prosocial touch-screen applications on preschool children's subsequent prosocial behavior. In both experiments, 3- to 6-year-olds were randomly assigned to one of three game application conditions (prosocial, violent, or neutral). Prosocial behaviors after the game were examined with laboratory tasks and vignettes. Experiment 1 (N = 186) showed that playing the prosocial game application produced higher levels of helping behavior towards the experimenter than playing the violent and neutral games. Experiment 2 (N = 189) found a wider range of effects of the prosocial application play on children's prosocial behaviors towards same-aged actual and hypothetical peers compared to the violent and neutral game conditions. Low theory-of-mind and high empathic abilities moderated and enhanced the effects of prosocial application play on prosocial outcomes. These findings suggest that touch screen applications may contribute to fostering prosocial behavior in early childhood.

The mystery behind how EFL novice teachers should behave to manage their classroom enviroment effectively and empatheticly

Abstract E very EFL classroom can possibly become entrenched in the dynamics of the teachers, vulnerable students, and classroom climate. Qualities such as empathy can be forgotten by teachers as stereotypes, prejudices, and preconceptions emerge. Therefore, the development of empathetic strategies and positive attitudes towards language learning among students can be improved by teachers with empathic abilities in the classroom, where the classroom climate plays an important role. Enhancing the strategies related to empathy development among novice teachers may help to create better conditions for care and higher academic expectations. In addition, empathy is a necessary skill for teachers to effectively manage their classrooms. Research supports empathy’s importance in English language teaching as it promotes positive outcomes in the classroom both intellectually and emotioally . It also foments a culturally sensitive class environment. As teaching with empathy can enhance teacher effectiveness, this review paper introduces some necceaary empathy related guidelines for novice teachers to apply so that they can develop their effectiveness in teaching. The results are discussed in the light of guidelines for beginner teachers.

Is Gender-Based Approach Applicable to the Development of Medical Students’ Emotional Intelligence and Empathic Abilities as Key Professional Competences for an Aspiring Physician?

Is Gender-Based Approach Applicable to the Development of Medical Students’ Emotional Intelligence and Empathic Abilities as Key Professional Competences for an Aspiring Physician?

Cultural adaptation and psychometric properties of the Jefferson empathy scale health professions students\u2019 version in SpanishOccupational therapy students

BackgroundIn occupational therapy, empathy is a fundamental concept and has a positive impact on health and quality of care outcomes for patients. It is a basic and essential concept that should prevail in the training of occupational therapy students. The aim of this study is to validate and cross-culturally adapt the Jefferson Medical Empathy Scale, version for health professionals (JSE-HPS) in a sample of Spanish university students of occupational therapy.MethodsA cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted between 2019 and 2020. A convenience sample was selected, consisting of 221 students from the four courses of the Occupational Therapy degree at the Universidad Rey Juan Carlos during the 2019–20 academic year. Each of the participants voluntarily and anonymously completed a sociodemographic data sheet (including age and sex), in addition to the following assessment scales: JSE-HPS and the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI).ResultsA culturally adapted version of the JSE-HPS that guarantees conceptual and grammatical equivalence specific to the study population was obtained. The psychometric analysis of the translated version showed a Cronbach coefficient α of 0.786. The test-retest reliability analysis showed an intraclass correlation coefficient of 0.90 (95% CI = 0.86–0.93, p < 0.0001). Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) showed positive results (χ2 = 269.095, df = 167, p < 0.001, Confirmatory Fit Index [CFI] = 0.90, Root Mean Square Error of Approximation [RMSEA] = 0.04).ConclusionThe cultural adaptation and psychometric results suggest that the Spanish version of the JSE-HPS is a valid and reliable way to evaluate the empathic ability of occupational therapy students.

Technological and methodological aspects of the formation of digital creative competencies of future teachers in the context of distance learning in the RK

The technological and methodological aspects of the formation of digital creative competencies of future teachers in the context of distance learning in the Republic of Kazakhstan are defined and the essence of the following concepts: «competence», «digital competence» , «digital and technological competence», «digital and methodological competence», «creativity», «digital pedagogical campus» are identified in this article. The essence of the components of competence is characterized in a new context in this article such as organizational ability; empathic ability; reflective ability. The content of digital-technological and digital-methodological competencies of future teachers in the framework of distance learning is also revealed in this article. If the digital-technological competence of a future teacher in the conditions of distance learning is determined by the formation of his skills and abilities to work with Internet resources, digital learning platforms, modern computer programs, multimedia devices, thеn the digital-methodological competence of the future teacher is characterized by his ability to create an electronic portfolio, an electronic media library and the organization of pedagogical coaching and pedagogical trainings. In order to increase the digital creative competencies of future teachers in the Republic of Kazakhstan, the content of 8 pedagogical online resources that are part of the digital pedagogical campus SMART-future teacher is disclosed in more detail: SMART-online pedagogical seminar; SMART-online pedagogical studio; SMART-pedagogical electronic online library; SMART – online methodological portfolio (electronic portfolio); SMART-online coaching; SMART-online coworking center; SMART is a virtual online laboratory and SMART digital content. The content is revealed and a new model of the formation of digital-creative competencies of future teachers in the context of distance learning is offer. Key words: competence, digital competence, digital and technological competence, digital and methodological competence, digital pedagogical campus.

Association between dispositional empathy and self-other distinction in Irish and Belgian medical students: a cross-sectional analysis

ObjectivePhysicians’ cognitive empathy is associated with improved diagnosis and better patient outcomes. The relationship between self-reported and performance-based measures of cognitive empathic processes is unclear.DesignCross-sectional analysis of the association between...

Fostering a Values-Based Attitude towards a Person in Secondary Schools in the Post-Soviet Space

The article justifies the idea that a child is at the heart of educational activity. Subsequently, an educational activity aims to increase the creative potential and social activity of humane personality and recognize the priority of the free development of personality, the value of human beings and preserve their environment. Accordingly, the article aims to develop and verify the conceptual and methodological principles of the scientific and methodical system for cultivating a values-based attitude towards personality in students and introduce the technologies that will enhance their social decency. The article analyzes theoretical foundations, defines the principles and pedagogical conditions for developing the system of values-based orientations in students from the post-Soviet space on the example of Ukraine and verifies the effectiveness of these conditions experimentally. The experimental stage of the research employs the following methods to obtain the initial data: brainstorming, questionnaires, the methodology of unfinished sentences, “Q-sorting”, diagnosing the socio-psychological adaptation, diagnosing indicators and forms of aggression, empathic abilities, revealing the ability of effective cooperation and constructive communication, assertive behaviour (Diagnosis of accepting others, Goodwill scale, Express trust diagnostics, Express diagnostics of the level of person’s social isolation); a methodology for identifying the attitude “altruism-egoism” of the personality, value orientations, the integral person’s self-esteem, the assessment of moral development. Through all the parts of the experiment, the positive moves in learning the basic humanistic values were done in the value structure of the personality. The analysis of the data gathered during the investigation gives reasons to state, that during the experiment systematic changes of the educational process were made, the level of fostering a values-based attitude to a person among students has increased.

Tertiary hospital nurses' ethical sensitivity and its influencing factors: A cross-sectional study.

High ethical sensitivity positively affects the quality of nursing care; nevertheless, Chinese nurses' ethical sensitivity and the factors influencing it have not been described. The purpose of this study was to describe ethical sensitivity and to explore factors influencing it among Chinese-registered nurses, to help nursing administrators improve nurses' ethical sensitivity, build harmony between nurses and patients, and promote the patients' health. This was a descriptive, cross-sectional study. We recruited 500 nurses from several departments in three tertiary hospitals. The Chinese Moral Sensitivity Questionnaire-Revised version and the Jefferson Scale of Empathy-Health Professionals were used to assess the nurses' ethical sensitivity and empathy ability, respectively. Fifteen sociodemographic variables were included in the questionnaires. Informed consent was obtained from the participants regarding participation and data storage and handling. This program has been examined and supported by the research center of medical ethics and professional ethics of Guilin Medical University. The Approval No. was 2016RWYB04. The whole research process is conducted strictly according to ethical requirements. The valid response rate was 84.40% (n = 422). The total score of Chinese Moral Sensitivity Questionnaire-Revised was 35.82 ± 8.17. The subscale scores of moral responsibility and strength and sense of moral burden were 21.50 ± 4.91 and 14.33 ± 3.98, respectively. Significant differences were found among age groups, gender, years of working, category of profession, and quality of family communication regarding nurses' ethical sensitivity (p < 0.05). Regression analysis showed that the main factors influencing nurses' ethical sensitivity were gender, years of working, quality of family communication, career satisfaction, and empathic ability. Our findings suggest that Chinese nurses' ethical sensitivity in tertiary hospitals in Guilin is at a medium level. The director of nursing schools and hospitals in China should pay attention to nurses' ethical sensitivity and should intensify education and training to improve nurses' ethical sensitivity. Further studies should focus on interventions aimed at improving Chinese nurses' ethical sensitivity.

Altered empathy-related resting-state functional connectivity in patients with bipolar disorder.

Empathy is the ability to generate emotional responses (i.e., cognitive empathy) and to make cognitive inferences (i.e., affective empathy) to other people's emotions. Empirical evidence suggests that patients with bipolar disorder (BD) exhibit impairment in cognitive empathy, but findings on affective empathy are inconsistent. Few studies have examined the neural mechanisms of cognitive and affective empathy in patients with BD. In this study, we examined the empathy-related resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) in BD patients. Thirty-seven patients with BD and 42 healthy controls completed the self-report Questionnaires of Cognitive and Affective Empathy (QCAE), the Yoni behavioural task, and resting-sate fMRI brain scans. Group comparison of empathic ability was conducted. The interactions between group and empathic ability on seed-based whole brain rsFC were examined. BD patients scored lower on the Online Simulation subscale of the QCAE and showed positive correlations between cognitive empathy and the rsFC of the dorsal Medial Prefrontal Cortex (dmPFC) with the lingual gyrus. The correlations between cognitive empathy and the rsFC of the temporal-parietal junction (TPJ) with the fusiform gyrus, the cerebellum and the parahippocampus were weaker in BD patients than that in healthy controls. These findings highlight the underlying neural mechanisms of empathy impairments in BD patients.

The relationship between empathy and altruistic motivations in nursing studies: a multi-method study

BackgroundThe efficient management of relational competences in healthcare professionals is crucial to ensuring that a patient’s treatment and care process is conducted positively. Empathy is a major component of the relational skills expected of health professionals. Knowledge of undergraduate healthcare students’ empathic abilities is important for educators in designing specific and efficient educational programmes aimed at supporting or enhancing such competences. In this study, we measured first-year undergraduate nursing students’ attitudes towards professional empathy in clinical encounters. The students’ motivations for entering nursing education were also evaluated. This study takes a multi-method approach based on the use of qualitative and quantitative tools to examine the association between students’ positive attitudes towards the value of empathy in health professionals and their prosocial and altruistic motivations in choosing to engage in nursing studies.MethodsA multi-method study was performed with 77 first-year nursing students. The Jefferson Scale of Empathy (JSE) – Health Professions Student Version was administered. Students’ motivations for choosing nursing studies were detected through an open question and thematically analysed. Using explorative factor analysis and principal component analysis, a dimensional reduction was conducted to identify subjects with prosocial and altruistic motivations. Finally, linear models were tested to examine specific associations between motivation and empathy.ResultsSeven distinct themes distinguishing internal and external motivational factors were identified through a thematic analysis of students’ answers regarding their decision to enter a nursing degree course. Female students gained higher scores on the empathy scale than male ones. When students’ age was considered, this difference was only observed for younger students, with young females’ total scores being higher than young males'. High empathy scores were positively associated with altruistic motivational factors. A negative correlation was found between external motivational factors and the scores of the Compassionate Care subscale of the JSE.ConclusionsKnowing the level of nursing students’ empathy and their motivational factors for entering nursing studies is important for educators to implement training paths that enhance students’ relational attitudes and skills and promote the positive motivational aspects that are central to this profession.

Conceptualization of the forgiveness phenomenon in the interdisciplinary discourse

The aim of the study is to conceptualize forgiveness as a socio-psychological phenomenon, to identify the criteria for forgiveness by analyzing, systematizing, and generalizing the scientific views of local and foreign scientists on this phenomenon. The empirical study used the Forgiveness Scale as Character Traits questionnaire by J. W. Berry, et. al; «Diagnosis of depression and anxiety» method by L. R. Derogatis, «Diagnosis of the level of empathic abilities» method by V. V. Boyko, research on social intelligence method by J. Guilford in the adaptation of O. S. Mikhailova. It is concluded that the forgiveness phenomenon is a multidimensional and multilevel phenomenon that has a multicomponent structure and includes cognitive, affective, conative, and motivational components. The criteria for forgiveness are as follows: 1) overcoming the negative emotions and judgments about the offender, that is the refusal of the offended person from anger and resentment, hatred, indignation, sadness; 2) replacement of negative feelings towards the offender with more neutral, and, finally, positive, particularly, tolerance, manifestations of empathy in the form of compassion, empathy, mercy (the benevolence towards the offender is a positive dimension of forgiveness); 3) refusal of vengeful behavior towards the offender; 4) overcoming the motivation to avoid the offender. Forgiveness can perform different functions, can have different conditions of its development, different types, different modalities, levels of awareness, different subject meanings, different impacts on the person. Thus, unforgiveness is a more complex construct than just the opposite of forgiveness. E.g., crimes against humanity are unforgivable. The ability to forgive is determined by the development of a number of social cognition mechanisms (social and emotional intelligence, empathy for the offender). Forgiveness is associated with reflexive mentality, conscious reworking, and restructuring of one’s attitude toward the offender and the situation of resentment. The prospect of further research is seen in the identification of different socio-psychological factors of forgiveness depending on its subject content, level of awareness, types, and different modalities

The Effect of Multicultural Sensibility and Empathic Ability on Undergraduate Student’s Civility

This research aimed to study the effects of both multicultural sensibility and empathic ability on civility. There were 239 participants, who are undergraduate students in colleges, randomly recruited from N and D cities. The scales used included multicultural sensibility, empathic ability, and civility, and the results analyzed reliability, correlation, and regression.&lt;br/&gt;The results showed the following: first, the means of multicultural sensibility, empathic ability, and civility were 3.69, 4.08, and 3.96 respectively. Second, multicultural sensibility, empathic ability and civility had significantly meaningful positive correlations. Third, multicultural sensibility and empathic ability had a significant effect on civility. Finally, regarding relative influence, multicultural sensibility had more of an effect than empathic ability on civility.&lt;br/&gt;To increase civility, a multidimensional approach is needed. University classes on civility, and general education classes on multicultural sensibility and empathic ability, need to be further developed.

Effects of Clinical Nurses’ Workplace Bullying, Empathic Ability, and Resilience on Job Satisfaction

Effects of Clinical Nurses’ Workplace Bullying, Empathic Ability, and Resilience on Job Satisfaction

Influence of Empathic Ability of Nurses on Hospital Revisit Intent and Patient Trust who Received Comphrehensive Nursing Care Service

Influence of Empathic Ability of Nurses on Hospital Revisit Intent and Patient Trust who Received Comphrehensive Nursing Care Service

Perception of Faces and Elaboration of Gender and Victim/Aggressor Stereotypes: The Influence of Internet Use and of the Perceiver's Personality.

The use of social media, particularly among youngsters, is characterized by simple and fast image exploration, mostly of people, particularly faces. The study presented here was conducted in order to investigate stereotypical judgments about men and women concerning past events of aggression—perpetrated or suffered—expressed on the basis of their faces, and gender-related differences in the judgments. To this aim, 185 participants answered a structured questionnaire online. The questionnaire contained 30 photos of young people’s faces, 15 men and 15 women (Ma et al., 2015), selected on the basis of the neutrality of their expression, and participants were asked to rate each face with respect to masculinity/femininity, strength/weakness, and having a past of aggression, as a victim or as a perpetrator. Information about the empathic abilities and personality traits of participants were also collected. The results indicate that the stereotypes—both of gender and those of victims and perpetrators—emerge as a consequence of the visual exploration of faces that present no facial emotion. Some characteristics of the personality of the observers, such as neuroticism, extraversion, openness, conscientiousness, and affective empathy, have a role in facilitating or hindering stereotype processing, in different ways for male and female faces by male and female observers. In particular, both genders attribute their positive stereotypical attributes to same-gender faces: men see male faces as stronger, masculine, and more aggressive than women do, and women see female faces as more feminine, less weak, and less as victims than men do. Intensive use of social media emerges as a factor that could facilitate the expression of some stereotypes of violent experiences and considering female subjects as more aggressive. Findings in this study can contribute to research on aggressive behavior on the Internet and improve our understanding of the multiple factors involved in the elaboration of gender stereotypes relative to violent or victim behavior.

Heart and Head: Profiles and Predictors of Self-Assessed Cognitive and Affective Empathy in a Sample of Medical and Health Professional Students.

For medical and health professions, students learning to respond to others' distress with well-regulated empathy is an important developmental skill linked to positive health outcomes and professionalism. Our study aimed to investigate the sociodemographic, psychological, and psychosocial differences between medical (MS) and health professional (HPS) students and their empathic abilities, since both populations share common stressors, namely, dealing with suffering people. Additionally, we were interested in assessing the psychological and psychosocial predictors of empathy of MS compared to HPS. One hundred thirty MS and 86 HPS were administered the Patient Health Questionnaire-9, Interpersonal Reactivity Index, Integrative Hope Scale, and UCLA Loneliness Scale. The two groups showed differences in their contextual characteristics, with the HPS group having larger families, lower parents' education levels, and lower family income compared to the MS group. In both groups, ~15% of students reported previous contact for psychological problems. A higher proportion of HPS (23.3%) reported depressive symptoms than MS (10%), and female HPS reported more intense feelings of loneliness than other subgroups of students. No differences were found between the two groups in self-assessed cognitive and affective empathy. In both groups, women showed greater affective scores than men and, at the same time, seemed to be particularly prone to personal distress. The cognitive empathic dimension of “perspective taking” was predicted by young age (OR, 612; 95% CI, 1.395–15.242) and the overall socioeconomic status (OR, 3.175; 95% CI, 1.154–8.734) of the HPS. Self-assessed affective competence was predicted by female gender (OR, 3.112; 95% CI, 1.328–7.288), depressive symptomatology (OR, 2.777; 95% CI, 1.004–7.681), higher mother's level of education (OR, 2.764; 95% CI, 1.147–6.659), and feeling of hope related to social relationships (OR, 1.367; 95% CI, 1.152–1.622). Risk factors for poor self-assessed affective emphatic skills were previous contact for psychological problems (OR, 3.263; 95% CI, 1.238–8.601) and feelings of loneliness (OR, 1.18; 95% CI, 1.09–1.276). Our findings emphasize the need to test psychosocial models to better understand empathic skills.