Empathy Erosion of Medical Students: Report of a Study Conducted in one Medical School in São Paulo, Brazil

Abstract

Objective: evaluate the level of empathy of a group of medical students in a Medical School in São Paulo, Brazil. Material and methods: descriptive, comparative and cross-sectional study. Not randomized sample of 205 students. The study was conducted from October 2012 to February 2013. The empathy evaluation was performed using the Jefferson Scale of Physician Empathy (jspe), version for medical students, and the scale of multidimensional interpersonal reactivity (mir) of Davis, applying simultaneously to each student. The jspe contains 20 items that are answered according to the scale of Likert variant of seven points (7=completely in agreement / 1=completely in disagreement); the highest final score is 140 (20x7). This scale assesses cognitive attributes of empathy. The students were divided into two groups, according to the year of professional career: the basic group (students of 1st and 2nd) and the Group of interns (5th and 6th); the score of empathy between the two groups was compared. Results: most of the students of medicine –in both groups– corresponded to the female sex. Applying the jspe obtained a score of empathy significantly lower (p<0.01) in the Group of inmates, while applying the mir of Davis found no significant difference between the scores of empathy of students in recent years and the first year. However, when comparing both scales the mean scores with the mir was always lower than that obtained with the jspe (p<0.01); at mir, lower scores corresponded to the affective dimension when it was compared with the cognitive. Conclusions: the level of empathy can change and in this case, can deteriorate. Intervene in this process would be more than teaching new subjects –“teaching to be empathetic”– to prevent its loss.