Empathy in Students of Specialty in Physical Therapy, Universidad Mayor in Temuco, Chile

Abstract

Objective: To estimate empathy levels and describe the behavior of the structure of the empathy construct in kinesiology students at the Universidad Mayor in Temuco (Chile). Material and Methods: The Jefferson Scale of Medical Empathy, in its Spanish version for students (S Version), culturally validated for kinesiology students was applied. Cronbach's alpha and Tukey’s activity was estimated, as well. The means of data were compared using ANOVA Bifactorial and Duncan test. Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin and Bartlett test were used. The components were estimated applying principal components of the factorial test with varimax rotation and eigenvalue 1. Results: The scale showed reliability, there are no differences in levels of empathy between courses and bet­ween genders. Conclusions: This results are different from results of other studies. Is not possible to explain the cause of the observed results.

Keywords

• Empathy
• Students
• Health careers
• Specialty in Physical Therapy