A Quantitative Study of Empathy in Pakistani Medical Students: A Multicentered Approach

Abstract

Objective: To examine the empathy level of undergraduate medical students in Pakistan. Three hypotheses are developed based on the literature review. (1) Female medical students have a higher level of empathy than do male students. (2) Empathy scores vary during the medical school years in Pakistani students. (3) Medical students interested in people-oriented specialties would score higher than the students interested in technology-oriented specialties. Methods: This is a quantitative inquiry approach using a cross-sectional design of 1453 students from 8 Pakistani medical schools, both private and state. The sample consists of 41.1% (n = 597) male students and 58.9% (n = 856) female students. Empirical data are collected using the Jefferson Scale of Physician Empathy (JSPE), a well-validated self-administered questionnaire. Results: The mean empathy score among students is 4.77 with a standard deviation of 0.72. The results show that there is no statistically significant association between the empathy scores and gender, t (1342.36) = −0.053, P = .95). There is a statistically significant difference between the empathy scores and the years of medical school, F (14, 1448) = 4.95, P = .01. Concerning the specialty interests, there is no statistically significant difference between the empathy score and specialty interests. Conclusion: The findings of this study showed that in Western countries, medical students performed better than Pakistani medical students on the empathy scale. This finding has important implications for Pakistani medical educators to improve the interpersonal skills of medical students in the context of patient care. Inconsistent with our expectations and experiences, our findings do not support that female medical students scored better than their male counterparts on the empathy scale. Because of the nature of a cross-sectional study, it is impossible to argue the decline of empathy during medical school training.