Evaluation of empathy among Korean medical students: a cross-sectional study using the Korean Version of the Jefferson Scale of Physician Empathy.
BACKGROUND
Empathy is an essential element of physician professionalism. Thus, proper evaluation and education of empathy in medical students is important for medical education.


OBJECTIVE
This study was conducted to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Korean Student-Version of the Jefferson Scale of Physician Empathy (JSPE-S).


METHODS
The scale was completed cross-sectionally by 493 medical students at Seoul National University College of Medicine in Korea.


RESULTS
Item-total correlations were all positive and statistically significant. Cronbach's coefficient alpha was 0.84. A factor structure similar to that from American medical students was observed. The mean score of 5.2 +/- 0.6 was obtained. Significant differences in the empathy scores were observed among years in medical school but not between genders.


CONCLUSIONS
Our findings provide support for the reliability and validity of the Korean JSPE-S and indicate that it can serve as a useful instrument for assessing empathy among Korean medical students.
Roh
Myoung-Sun
MS
Department of Medicine, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Hahm
Bong-Jin
BJ
Lee
Dong Hun
DH
Suh
Dae Hun
DH
D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004645:Empathy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007723:Korea; D008297:Male; D010819:Physician's Role / Q000523:psychology*; D010820:Physicians / Q000523:psychology*; D011594:Psychometrics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012577:Schools, Medical; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D013337:Students, Medical / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires