Empathy along medical training in female and male Italian students

Background: Empathy is considered a relevant attribute in the physician-patient relationship and is associated with improved health outcomes. However, some studies reported a decline in empathy throughout medical education, particularly, in the transition to clinical training. The present study assessed the levels of empathy in Italian male and female medical students across a six years programme. Methods: At the end of the annual Progress Test, 234 medical students (120 Female; 114 Male) in different years (1st-6th) of the same programme completed a revised student version of the JSPE, a self-administrated 24 item questionnaire assessing Importance given to Emotions (IGE), Emotional Detachment (ED), Being in the Patient’s Shoes (BPS) through 7 points Likert scales. Results: Factorial ANOVAs revealed significant effects for the factor Years in the IGE (F5,222=2.206;p = .055), and BPS (F5,222=4.196;p = .001) scales, showing a decreasing trend along the progress of the studies. Gender differences were also found in BPS and IGE with Female students giving more importance to emotions (F1,222=8.554;p=.004 ; M=4.62vs.4.34) and to the ability to ‘entering in patient shoes’(F1,222=4.571; p=.034; M=6.02 vs.5.705). The ED scale didn’t show any effect or interaction. Conclusions: The findings confirm only in part that empathy declines through medical education and call for a multidimensional assessment of the construct.