The intergroup empathy bias among incoming medical students
Background: Previous studies revealed a significant empathy decline over time among medical students. Scientific literature also supports the influence of group belonging on the empathy expression. Objective: Through this study, we aimed to demonstrate whether group belonging (peers or patients) sig...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Taylor & Francis Group
2018-01-01
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| Series: | Medical Education Online |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10872981.2018.1527625 |
| _version_ | 1818159976541061120 |
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| author | Julian A. Nasello Marie-Sophie Triffaux Jean-Marc Triffaux |
| author_facet | Julian A. Nasello Marie-Sophie Triffaux Jean-Marc Triffaux |
| author_sort | Julian A. Nasello |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Background: Previous studies revealed a significant empathy decline over time among medical students. Scientific literature also supports the influence of group belonging on the empathy expression. Objective: Through this study, we aimed to demonstrate whether group belonging (peers or patients) significantly influences empathy levels before students undertake their education in medicine. Design: A total of 194 incoming medical students participated in our study. All participants filled-in the Interpersonal Reactivity Index under three primed situations (a general; a peers’ one; a patients’ one) at three different points in time during a session of information. Results: Analyses revealed significant main effects of: gender; situations; and empathy dimensions. We also obtained a significant interaction effect between dimensions and situations. Conclusions: We showed that empathy levels were modulated by group belonging (25% of the variance was explained by group belonging). Post hoc analyses showed that the differences between the peers’ and patients’ situations tend to reveal an appropriate professional attitude with regard to patients because they displayed: (1) lower scores on personal distress and fantasy; (2) higher scores on perspective taking (as for peers); (3) stable scores on empathic concern in peers’ and patients’ situations. However, integrating empathy lessons in the educational program of medical students remains a priority. In a long-term perspective, these findings suggest an investigation of the impacts of group belonging on the evolution of students’ empathy scores through their medicine studies. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-11T15:54:32Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-bfe6adc0d2ca42518affbb6643d649b4 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1087-2981 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-11T15:54:32Z |
| publishDate | 2018-01-01 |
| publisher | Taylor & Francis Group |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Medical Education Online |
| spelling | doaj.art-bfe6adc0d2ca42518affbb6643d649b42022-12-22T00:59:29ZengTaylor & Francis GroupMedical Education Online1087-29812018-01-0123110.1080/10872981.2018.15276251527625The intergroup empathy bias among incoming medical studentsJulian A. Nasello0Marie-Sophie Triffaux1Jean-Marc Triffaux2University Day Hospital « La Clé »University Day Hospital « La Clé »University Day Hospital « La Clé »Background: Previous studies revealed a significant empathy decline over time among medical students. Scientific literature also supports the influence of group belonging on the empathy expression. Objective: Through this study, we aimed to demonstrate whether group belonging (peers or patients) significantly influences empathy levels before students undertake their education in medicine. Design: A total of 194 incoming medical students participated in our study. All participants filled-in the Interpersonal Reactivity Index under three primed situations (a general; a peers’ one; a patients’ one) at three different points in time during a session of information. Results: Analyses revealed significant main effects of: gender; situations; and empathy dimensions. We also obtained a significant interaction effect between dimensions and situations. Conclusions: We showed that empathy levels were modulated by group belonging (25% of the variance was explained by group belonging). Post hoc analyses showed that the differences between the peers’ and patients’ situations tend to reveal an appropriate professional attitude with regard to patients because they displayed: (1) lower scores on personal distress and fantasy; (2) higher scores on perspective taking (as for peers); (3) stable scores on empathic concern in peers’ and patients’ situations. However, integrating empathy lessons in the educational program of medical students remains a priority. In a long-term perspective, these findings suggest an investigation of the impacts of group belonging on the evolution of students’ empathy scores through their medicine studies.http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10872981.2018.1527625Empathy declinegender biasgroup belongingeducation perspectives |
| spellingShingle | Julian A. Nasello Marie-Sophie Triffaux Jean-Marc Triffaux The intergroup empathy bias among incoming medical students Medical Education Online Empathy decline gender bias group belonging education perspectives |
| title | The intergroup empathy bias among incoming medical students |
| title_full | The intergroup empathy bias among incoming medical students |
| title_fullStr | The intergroup empathy bias among incoming medical students |
| title_full_unstemmed | The intergroup empathy bias among incoming medical students |
| title_short | The intergroup empathy bias among incoming medical students |
| title_sort | intergroup empathy bias among incoming medical students |
| topic | Empathy decline gender bias group belonging education perspectives |
| url | http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10872981.2018.1527625 |
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