EMPATHY AMONG FIRST- AND SECOND-YEAR MEDICAL STUDENTS

Abstract

Evaluating the empathy level of tomorrow’s physicians is paramount in highlighting this subject in medical education. The well-known tool for measuring empathy is Toronto Empathy Questionnaire (TEQ). The aim of this study was to evaluate the level of empathy of medical students in the first and second years of medical training at the Faculty of Medicine in Skopje using the TEQ.This cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted during October 2022, as an online survey among first- and second-year medical students at the Faculty of Medicine in Skopje. An anonymous online self-report questionnaire distributed via Google Forms was used. One section of the questionnaire addressed the socio-demographic data, year of study and gender. The second section included the Toronto Empathy Questionnaire (TEQ). There was a moderately strong consistency among the answers of the students to the 16 questions of the TEQ (Cronbach’s Alpha = 0.55). The total score varied in the interval 35.42±5.80; ±95.00CI:34.79-36.05). The total score for empathy among female students was insignificantly higher than among male students; Z = - 0.35 and p>0.05 (p=0.072), and the total score for empathy among second-year students was significantly higher than among first-year students; Z = - 5.17 and p<0.05 (p=0.000).Understanding and assessing the level of empathy of medical students during medical education is an important issue addressed during medical training.