Chilean Dentistry students, levels of empathy and empathic erosion: Necessary evaluation before a planned intervention

Abstract

Objectives: To estimate the general empathy levels and the potential for empathic growth in Dentistry students and demonstrate that the empathic erosion model is not med. Material and methods: Exploratory and cross-sectional study. Population: First- to fifth-year Dentistry students at Universidad San Sebastián, Santiago Campus (Chile). The total student population (N) was 800. The participants completed the Jefferson Scale of Empathy in its Spanish version for medical students, validated and adapted in Chile. A two-factor analysis of variance (model III) was applied to find differences in the means between academic years, between genders, and in the interaction between these two factors. The data were described using simple arithmetic graphs and then processed with SPSS 22.0. The total growth potential was estimated. Results: The Sample (n) consisted of 534 students (66.88% of the population studied, 2016). Differences were found between academic years and genders in general empathy and some of its components. Conclusion: The behavior of empathy levels is not in line with the concept of empathic erosion. This suggests that empathic erosion is a particular and not a general phenomenon. There exists a considerable growth potential for empathy and its components. Keywords: Empathy, Dental student, Empathic evaluation