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Empathy amongst dental students: An institutional cross‐sectional survey in Poland and Croatia
Author(s) -
Brekalo Prso Ivana,
MocnyPachońska Katarzyna,
Trzcionka Agata,
PezeljRibaric Sonja,
Paljevic Ema,
Tanasiewicz Marta,
Persic Bukmir Romana
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
european journal of dental education
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.583
H-Index - 41
eISSN - 1600-0579
pISSN - 1396-5883
DOI - 10.1111/eje.12557
Subject(s) - empathy , croatian , psychology , cognition , clinical psychology , social psychology , psychiatry , linguistics , philosophy
Aim To determine and compare levels of empathy and its dimensions in Polish and Croatian dental students. Methods Fourth‐ and fifth‐year dental students (N = 193) at the University of Rijeka and University of Silesia completed questionnaires to determine levels of overall empathy and its dimensions: compassionate care (CC), perspective taking (PT) and ability to stand in someone else's shoes (ASSES). Total empathy and its dimensions were analysed depending on the country of origin, year of study and gender of the participants. The HPS version of the Jefferson Scale of Physician Empathy was used to conduct the research. Statistical analysis was performed using the Mann‐Whitney U test. Results The analysis showed no significant differences in total empathy level between Polish and Croatian students ( P = .838). However, separate analysis of empathy items showed significant differences between the two groups. Croatian students obtained significantly higher average PT values ( P = .021), whilst Polish students had significantly higher CC scores ( P < .001). Analysis of Croatian respondents revealed significantly higher ASSES scores in the fourth‐ and fifth‐year students ( P = .047). Analysis in the Polish group demonstrated an increase in PT scores from the fourth to the fifth year of study ( P = .008). Conclusion Croatian students scored higher on items associated with cognitive empathy, whilst Polish students displayed higher values in the aspect of emotional empathy. The present results demonstrated an increase in cognitive empathy level in Polish students, whilst in their Croatian colleagues, the level of cognitive empathy decreased with the progression of the academic programme.