69 Journal of Education and Ethics in Dentistry July-December 2014 • Vol. 4 • Issue 2 Standing in patients’ shoes — survey on empathy among dental students in India Access this article online Quick Response Code: Website: www.jeed.in DOI: 10.4103/0974-7761.148990 Introduction Empathy is fundamental to the health care provider- patient relationship. [1] In terms of patient care, empathy is defned as a cognitive attribute that involves an ability to understand the patient’s experiences, pain, suffering and perspective combined with a capability to communicate this understanding and intention to help. [2] Pederson (2009) defned empathy succinctly as the “appropriate understanding of the patient”. [3] The concept of empathy in health care felds is diverse, but most likened to ideas of compassion, thoughtfulness, attentiveness and caring, all of which culminate in a desirable type of “chair side manner” that generates understanding and produces positive rapport with patients. It is considered essential to the notion of patient- centred care: To what degree can a patient’s best interests be served if the caregivers know relatively little about the patient’s world, values or interests. [4] Medical research has shown that the use of a “warm, empathic style” by physicians during communications with patients is associated with improved treatment outcomes [5] such as increased compliance with medical recommendations, [6,7] decreased pain [8] and reduced recovery time, [9,10] as well as increased patient satisfaction [7,11,12] and decreased medical litigation. [13,14] The role of empathy in the dentist–patient relationship has received less attention. [15] Demonstration of empathy by dentists has been correlated with decreased dental fear, [16-18] increased compliance with orthodontic treatment, [19] improved treatment success and cooperation in paediatric patients, [20,21] improved treatment outcomes in myofacial pain, [22] and increased patient satisfaction. [22,23] One of the challenges in measuring empathy among health care professionals is the abundant descriptions of empathy from the various domains of psychology [24-26] and neuroscience. [27] The gold standard for assessment of empathy and interpersonal skills is behavioural observation by trained observers to ascertain use of skills. However, this can be only costly and time-consuming. [28] Jefferson Scale of Physician Empathy (JSPE-HPS) has been validated in a variety of Departments of Public Health Dentistry, 1 Periodontia, 2 Interns of Chettinad Dental College and Research Institute, Kelambakkam, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India ABSTRACT Background: Empathy is fundamental to the health care provider-patient relationship. The present study was conducted with the aim to assess the level of Empathy among Indian Dental Students and the objectives of the study are to assess any difference in the level of empathy across gender and year of study. Materials and Methods: Cross sectional descriptive study, employing convenience sampling method was conducted to assess the level of empathy using a validated, self-administered questionnaire Jefferson Scale of Empathy, Health Care Provider Student version (JSE-HPS) in this study. Independent samples t-test and one way ANOVA was used for comparison of empathy scores across gender and year of study. Results: A total of 406 dental students and Interns participated in the present study; the mean empathy score among the dental students was 82.76 ± 8.59. Mean empathy score of male students (83.99 ± 8.711) is greater than female students (82.37 ± 8.54) and there is a signifcant difference in empathy score among years of study (P < 0.05). Conclusion: Mean empathy score among Indian Dental Students is lesser than those reported in other studies. Empathy should be given importance in dental curriculum to improve dentist-patient relationship, thereby improving the treatment outcomes. Key words: Dental students, empathy, Jefferson Scale of Empathy Prabhu S., Shiva Kumar V. 1 , Sam Prasanth S. 2 , Shreya Kishore 2 Address for Correspondence: Dr. S Prabhu, Department of Public Health Dentistry, Chettinad Dental College and Research Institute, Rajiv Gandhi Salai, Kelambakkam, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. E-mail: prabhu.dent@gmail.com Original Article [Downloaded free from http://www.jeed.in on Friday, November 27, 2020, IP: 249.80.162.52]