Empathy; Health communication; Health occupations; Physical therapy modalities; Psychology; Students
Abstract :
[en] [en] OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to compare empathy levels among first-year students beginning different health-related programmes (medicine-dentistry, physiotherapy, psychology, veterinary medicine) and to compare them to students in non-health-related programmes. A secondary objective was to identify factors influencing.
METHODS: First-year students from a variety of academic fields, recruited from three different universities at the very beginning of their academic year, participated in the study. An anonymous online questionnaire was administered, including sociodemographic data, the Interpersonal Responsiveness Index (IRI) and for students enrolled in health-related programmes, the Jefferson Scale of Empathy for Health Professionals (JSPE-HPS). Incomplete questionnaires were excluded. The Spearman and Pearson correlations examined the relationships between self-report items and IRI and JSPE-HPS scores, respectively. Parametric ANOVAs compared empathy scores between groups.
RESULTS: A total of 1787 responses were analyzed, 1132 women, 600 men and 11 non-binary people, the average age of the respondents was 18.78 years (s-d 2.51). Students in the psychology curriculum had significantly higher total IRI scores than those in non-health fields (p < 0.001). Among health students, those in psychology, medicine, and dentistry scored higher IRI and Jefferson scores than physical therapy students (p < 0.001). The regression models identified gender, field of study, and communication training as significant predictors, although these explained only a small portion of the variance in the scores.
CONCLUSION: The results highlight the existence of significant differences in empathy levels by field of study, with empathy particularly high among mental health students and lower among physiotherapy and non-health students. While certain factors such as gender, age, and communication training influence these levels, other variables, such as personality traits or emotional regulation, are worth exploring. These observations argue for the integration, from the first year, of educational programmes that promote the development of empathy, particularly in fields where it seems to be less present.
Disciplines :
Orthopedics, rehabilitation & sports medicine
Author, co-author :
Michiels, Sabine; Research Unit in Health Psychology and Human Movement Sciences, Faculty of Human Movement Sciences, Université libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium. Electronic address: sabine.michiels@ulb.be
Foucart, Jennifer ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département des Sciences de l'activité physique et de la réadaptation ; Research Unit in Health Psychology and Human Movement Sciences, Faculty of Human Movement Sciences, Université libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium
Ibrahim, Malko; Research Unit in Health Psychology and Human Movement Sciences, Faculty of Human Movement Sciences, Université libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium
Pitance, Laurent ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département des Sciences de l'activité physique et de la réadaptation ; Université Catholique de Louvain (UCL), Faculty of Motor Sciences, Louvain la Neuve, Belgium
Demoulin, Christophe ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département des Sciences de l'activité physique et de la réadaptation > Kinésithérapie spécifique et réadaptation motrice
Language :
English
Title :
Empathy among first year university students: A cross-sectional analytical study.
Allan, M.S., Ali, N.N., Shaban, O.S., Al-Salaita, N., Client relationship management in banking : A case of emerging market. Journal of Governance and Regulation 10:2 (2021), 8–19, 10.22495/jgrv10i2art1.
Andersen, F.A., Johansen, A.-S.B., Søndergaard, J., Andersen, C.M., Assing Hvidt, E., Revisiting the trajectory of medical students’ empathy, and impact of gender, specialty preferences and nationality: A systematic review. BMC Medical Education, 20(1), 2020, 10.1186/s12909-020-1964-5.
Braun, S., Rosseel, Y., Kempenaers, C., Loas, G., Linkowski, P., Self-Report of Empathy : A Shortened French Adaptation of the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) Using Two Large Belgian Samples. Psychological Reports 117:3 (2015), 735–753, 10.2466/08.02.PR0.117c23z6.
Christov-Moore, L., Simpson, E.A., Coudé, G., Grigaityte, K., Iacoboni, M., Ferrari, P.F., Empathy: Gender effects in brain and behavior. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews 46 (2014), 604–627, 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2014.09.001.
Davis, M.H., Interpersonal Reactivity Index [Jeu de données]. 2011, 10.1037/t01093-000.
Decety, J., The neuroevolution of empathy. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 1231:1 (2011), 35–45, 10.1111/j.1749-6632.2011.06027.x.
Demoulin, C., El Naameh, P., Sarkis, F., Wolfs, S., Vanderthommen, M., Mathy, C., Niveau d'empathie des étudiants en kinésithérapie. Kinésithérapie. la Revue 23:255 (2023), 10–11, 10.1016/j.kine.2022.12.017.
Desai, S., Jhala, M., Association between self-esteem and empathy in physiotherapy students. International Journal of Health Sciences and Research 14:1 (2024), 34–37, 10.52403/ijhsr.20240105.
Elkin, B., LaPlant, E.M., Olson, A.P.J., Violato, C., Stability and differences in empathy between men and women medical students: A panel design study. Medical Science Educator 31:6 (2021), 1851–1858, 10.1007/s40670-021-01373-0.
Gaggero, G., Brunellière, A., Gigliotti, M.F., Mardi, W.E., Berthoz, S., Nandrino, J.-L., Grynberg, D., Assessing the French Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI): Psychometric and qualitative properties through the three French versions of the IRI scale | Psychologica Belgica. 2025, 10.5334/pb.1328.
Givron, H., Desseilles, M., Decline of empathy after the first internship: Towards a more functional empathy?. Santé Mentale au Québec 45:1 (2020), 183–200, 10.7202/1070246ar.
Guilera, T., Batalla, I., Forné, C., Soler-González, J., Empathy and big five personality model in medical students and its relationship to gender and specialty preference: A cross-sectional study. BMC Medical Education, 19(1), 2019, 57, 10.1186/s12909-019-1485-2.
Hernández-Xumet, J.-E., García-Hernández, A.-M., Fernández-González, J.-P., Marrero-González, C.-M., Beyond scientific and technical training: Assessing the relevance of empathy and assertiveness in future physiotherapists: A cross-sectional study. Health Science Reports, 6(10), 2023, e1600, 10.1002/hsr2.1600.
Hojat, M., DeSantis, J., Shannon, S.C., Speicher, M.R., Bragan, L., Calabrese, L.H., Empathy as related to gender, age, race and ethnicity, academic background and career interest: A nationwide study of osteopathic medical students in the United States. Medical Education 54:6 (2020), 571–581, 10.1111/medu.14138.
Hojat, M., Gonnella, J.S., Nasca, T.J., Mangione, S., Vergare, M., Magee, M., Physician empathy: Definition, components, measurement, and relationship to gender and specialty. American Journal of Psychiatry 159:9 (2002), 1563–1569, 10.1176/appi.ajp.159.9.1563.
Hojat, M., Vergare, M.J., Maxwell, K., Brainard, G., Herrine, S.K., Isenberg, G.A., Gonnella, J.S., The devil is in the third year: A longitudinal study of erosion of empathy in medical school. Academic Medicine, 84(9), 2009, 1182, 10.1097/ACM.0b013e3181b17e55.
Huang, L., Thai, J., Zhong, Y., Peng, H., Koran, J., Zhao, X.-D., The positive association between empathy and self-esteem in Chinese medical students: A multi-institutional study. Frontiers in Psychology, 10, 2019, 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01921.
Jobling, K., Alberti, H., Exploring student perceptions of empathy development during medical school – A phenomenological study. Patient Education and Counseling 105:12 (2022), 3515–3520, 10.1016/j.pec.2022.08.015.
Konrath, S.H., O'Brien, E.H., Hsing, C., Changes in dispositional empathy in American College students over time: A meta-analysis. Personality and Social Psychology Review 15:2 (2011), 180–198, 10.1177/1088868310377395.
Kurniawan, R., Tezara, C., & Yah, N. F. (n.d.). The Role of Empathetic Leadership in Human Resource Management: Employee Perspectives in the Era of Remote Work.
Liu, Z., Zuo, H., Zhao, Y., Lu, Y., The effect of embodied learning on students’ learning performance: A meta-analysis. Frontiers in Psychology, 16, 2025, 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1658797.
Loza, E., & Hétu, S. (n.d.). L'effet de la hiérarchie sociale sur l'évaluation de la douleur d'autrui.
Lucas, L., Parker, J., Physiotherapists perceived role in managing anxiety in patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis: A mixed-methods study. Archives of Physiotherapy, 12(1), 2022, 2, 10.1186/s40945-021-00124-z.
Neumann, M., Edelhäuser, F., Tauschel, D., Fischer, M.R., Wirtz, M., Woopen, C., Scheffer, C., Empathy Decline and Its Reasons : A Systematic Review of Studies With Medical Students and Residents, 86, 2011, Academic Medicine, 996–1009, 10.1097/ACM.0b013e318221e615.
Rodriguez, M., Panorama de la recherche en psychomotricité. Perspectives Psy 61:1 (2022), 33–41, 10.1051/ppsy/2022611033.
Santos, J.B.D., Farias, W.M.D., Fermoseli, A.F.D.O., Maximiano-Barreto, M.A., Affective and cognitive empathy among university students of the health field, exact sciences, and humanities : A cross-sectional study. Estudos de Psicologia (Campinas), 40, 2023, e220076, 10.1590/1982-0275202340e220076.
Savvoulidou, K., Papageorgiou, A., Kolokotroni, O., Kapreli, P., Tsokani, A., Strimpakos, N., Kapreli, E., Facilitators and barriers of empathetic behaviour in physiotherapy clinical practice: A qualitative focus group study. Musculoskeletal Science and Practice, 70, 2024, 102923, 10.1016/j.msksp.2024.102923.
Serrada-Tejeda, S., Martínez-Piedrola, R.M., Huertas-Hoyas, E., Máximo-Bocanegra, N., Trugeda-Pedrajo, N., Rodríguez-Pérez, M.P., Pérez-de-Heredia-Torres, M., Empathy in occupational therapy students: A cross-sectional study at a Spanish university. BMJ Open, 12(4), 2022, e058821, 10.1136/bmjopen-2021-058821.
Sobczak, K., Zdun-Ryżewska, A., Rudnik, A., Intensity, dynamics and deficiencies of empathy in medical and non-medical students. BMC Medical Education, 21(1), 2021, 487, 10.1186/s12909-021-02927-x.
Voultsos, P., Chatzinikolaou, F., Papana, A., Deliligka, A., Reliability of Greek version of the Toronto empathy questionnaire in medical students and associations with sociodemographic and lifestyle factors. BMC Psychology, 10(1), 2022, 113, 10.1186/s40359-022-00824-6.
Walker, P.C., Marshall, V.D., Sweet, B.V., Vordenberg, S.E., Longitudinal measurement of empathy in student pharmacists. American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education, 86(7), 2022, 8752, 10.5688/ajpe8752.
Wang, Y., Li, Y., Xiao, W., Fu, Y., Jie, J., Investigation on the rationality of the extant ways of scoring the interpersonal reactivity index based on confirmatory factor analysis. Frontiers in Psychology, 11, 2020, 1086, 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01086.
Yang, H., Anderson, D., Kang, S.-J., An instrument for measuring scientific empathy in students’ disciplinary engagement : The scientific empathy index. Frontiers in Education, 8, 2023, 10.3389/feduc.2023.1254436.
Yuen, J.K., See, C., Cheung, J.T.K., Lum, C.M., Lee, J.S., Wong, W.T., Can teaching serious illness communication skills foster multidimensional empathy? A mixed-methods study. BMC Medical Education, 23(1), 2023, 20, 10.1186/s12909-023-04010-z.
