Increase in self-reported empathy during medical school training: a longitudinal study

Background: Empathy is a fundamental tool in clinical practice, but despite its importance and benefits, it is often underrepresented in medical curricula. This study explored the evolution of medical students’ empathy longitudinally across six years of undergraduate training following the introduct...

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Autores: Díez, Nieves, Rodríguez Díez, María Cristina, Arbea, Leire, Pereira, José, Rodríguez, Fermín, Trelles, Marcos, Gea, Alfredo, García del Barrio, Loreto
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2025
País:España
Institución:Universidad Pública de Navarra
Repositorio:Academica-e. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad Pública de Navarra
OAI Identifier:oai:academica-e.unavarra.es:2454/55980
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/2454/55980
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Empathy
Medical students
Longitudinal studies
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spelling Increase in self-reported empathy during medical school training: a longitudinal studyDíez, NievesRodríguez Díez, María CristinaArbea, LeirePereira, JoséRodríguez, FermínTrelles, MarcosGea, AlfredoGarcía del Barrio, LoretoEmpathyMedical studentsLongitudinal studiesBackground: Empathy is a fundamental tool in clinical practice, but despite its importance and benefits, it is often underrepresented in medical curricula. This study explored the evolution of medical students’ empathy longitudinally across six years of undergraduate training following the introduction of a curriculum with 4-hour workshops during each of the six clinical rotations from Years 4 to 6, complemented by self-reflections after each rotation. Methods: Students of the 2016 class (graduated 2022) completed the Jefferson Scale of Empathy-Students (JSE-S) and the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) at the beginning of Year 1 (T0) of studies, beginning Year 3 (T1), end Year 3 (T2) and end Year 6 (T3). The NEO Five-Factor Personality Inventory was completed at T0. Empathy scores across timepoints were analyzed using repeated measured analyses of variance (ANOVA). Results: 36.1% and 32.5% of 169 eligible students completed the JSE-S and IRI scores respectively at all four timepoints. The JSE-S total mean score increased significantly across the six years of medical course (p < 0.001), as did the IRI total mean score (p < 0.001). In addition, the mean JSE-S total score increased significantly between T3 vs T0 (p < 0.001), T3 vs T2 (p < 0.001 and T2 vs T1 (p = 0.028); and the mean IRI total increased significantly between T3 vs T0 (p < 0.001) and T3 vs T2 (p < 0.001). Conclusion: Medical students who experienced a new professionalism program increased their empathy as measured by the JSE-S and IRI instruments across the six years of curriculum.PLOSCiencias de la SaludOsasun Zientziak2025info:eu-repo/semantics/articleinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersionapplication/pdfapplication/ziphttps://hdl.handle.net/2454/55980reponame:Academica-e. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad Pública de Navarrainstname:Universidad Pública de NavarraInglés© 2025 Díez et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessoai:academica-e.unavarra.es:2454/559802026-06-17T12:41:47Z
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Increase in self-reported empathy during medical school training: a longitudinal study
title Increase in self-reported empathy during medical school training: a longitudinal study
spellingShingle Increase in self-reported empathy during medical school training: a longitudinal study
Díez, Nieves
Empathy
Medical students
Longitudinal studies
title_short Increase in self-reported empathy during medical school training: a longitudinal study
title_full Increase in self-reported empathy during medical school training: a longitudinal study
title_fullStr Increase in self-reported empathy during medical school training: a longitudinal study
title_full_unstemmed Increase in self-reported empathy during medical school training: a longitudinal study
title_sort Increase in self-reported empathy during medical school training: a longitudinal study
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Díez, Nieves
Rodríguez Díez, María Cristina
Arbea, Leire
Pereira, José
Rodríguez, Fermín
Trelles, Marcos
Gea, Alfredo
García del Barrio, Loreto
author Díez, Nieves
author_facet Díez, Nieves
Rodríguez Díez, María Cristina
Arbea, Leire
Pereira, José
Rodríguez, Fermín
Trelles, Marcos
Gea, Alfredo
García del Barrio, Loreto
author_role author
author2 Rodríguez Díez, María Cristina
Arbea, Leire
Pereira, José
Rodríguez, Fermín
Trelles, Marcos
Gea, Alfredo
García del Barrio, Loreto
author2_role author
author
author
author
author
author
author
dc.contributor.none.fl_str_mv Ciencias de la Salud
Osasun Zientziak
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv Empathy
Medical students
Longitudinal studies
topic Empathy
Medical students
Longitudinal studies
description Background: Empathy is a fundamental tool in clinical practice, but despite its importance and benefits, it is often underrepresented in medical curricula. This study explored the evolution of medical students’ empathy longitudinally across six years of undergraduate training following the introduction of a curriculum with 4-hour workshops during each of the six clinical rotations from Years 4 to 6, complemented by self-reflections after each rotation. Methods: Students of the 2016 class (graduated 2022) completed the Jefferson Scale of Empathy-Students (JSE-S) and the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) at the beginning of Year 1 (T0) of studies, beginning Year 3 (T1), end Year 3 (T2) and end Year 6 (T3). The NEO Five-Factor Personality Inventory was completed at T0. Empathy scores across timepoints were analyzed using repeated measured analyses of variance (ANOVA). Results: 36.1% and 32.5% of 169 eligible students completed the JSE-S and IRI scores respectively at all four timepoints. The JSE-S total mean score increased significantly across the six years of medical course (p < 0.001), as did the IRI total mean score (p < 0.001). In addition, the mean JSE-S total score increased significantly between T3 vs T0 (p < 0.001), T3 vs T2 (p < 0.001 and T2 vs T1 (p = 0.028); and the mean IRI total increased significantly between T3 vs T0 (p < 0.001) and T3 vs T2 (p < 0.001). Conclusion: Medical students who experienced a new professionalism program increased their empathy as measured by the JSE-S and IRI instruments across the six years of curriculum.
publishDate 2025
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2025
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
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dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv https://hdl.handle.net/2454/55980
url https://hdl.handle.net/2454/55980
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv Inglés
language_invalid_str_mv Inglés
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
rights_invalid_str_mv https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv application/pdf
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dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv PLOS
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dc.source.none.fl_str_mv reponame:Academica-e. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad Pública de Navarra
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instname_str Universidad Pública de Navarra
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