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Journal of Medical Education

Abstract

Background: Empathy is necessary for doctors in assessing patient status and providing appropriate treatment. Developing empathy is an important issue in medical education. Medical schools worldwide are considering various programs to develop empathy. In Japan, education called Professionalism is provided as a way to enhance empathy. Various educational methods are being considered, but they remain in the development stage. Objective: The current study further analyzed changes in the empathy of first-year students who took the professionalism course. Methods: Students' empathy was measured using the Jefferson Scale of Empathy-Student Version (JSES) and the Multidimensional Empathy Scale (MES).The empathy of 113 first-year students was measured three times: when they enrolled (April), at the start of classes (middle September), and at the end of classes (late September). Results: Both JSES and MES scores increased after taking the professionalism education. In particular, MES scores increased significantly after taking the course (p < 0.05). By MES domain, scores for Other-oriented emotional reactivity (OR) and Perspective taking (PT) increased significantly (p < 0.05). Conversely, the Self-oriented emotional reactivity (SR) score decreased. These results were one effect of the professionalism education. Conclusions: The study confirmed that conducting a two-week professionalism education for first-year students exerted a positive impact on empathy.

First Page

136

Last Page

146

DOI

10.6145/jme.202409_28(3).0003

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