title: An exploration of empathy and correlates among Taiwanese nurses.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Empathy is essential to optimal health care. The empathy of nurses, who make up the front line in patient care, merits particular attention. However, information on empathy among nurses is still limited. This study aimed to examine the nurses' empathy and correlates in Taiwan.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study used a cross-sectional correlational design with a convenience sampling method to recruit full-time nurses from a hospital in southern Taiwan between May and November of 2010. A structured questionnaire was used to gather data on respondents' demographic and job characteristics and included a Chinese version of the Jefferson Scale of Empathy. Descriptive statistics, t-tests, Pearson correlations, analysis of variance, and stepwise linear regression were used for analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of a total of 740 questionnaires that were distributed, 675 valid copies were returned, for a response rate of 91.2%. After the exclusion of 15 cases because of missing data, 660 participants were included for data analysis. The mean empathy score for entire participants was 110.66. Those who received empathy-related training, worked on a psychiatric ward, had children, and had more years of nursing work experience demonstrated significantly higher empathy scores. These four variables accounted for 22.0% of the variance in empathy among participants.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our findings may help hospital administrators better understand the empathy level of nurses, and can serve as a reference in the design of appropriate in-service training to improve empathy among nurses.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nursing, Buddhist Dalin Tzu Chi General Hospital, Chiayi, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Jen-Che
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Kuo
authors.forename: Jung-Feng
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.forename: Yu-Lan
authors.initials: YL
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Hanoch
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Livneh
authors.forename: Tzung-Yi
authors.initials: TY
authors.lastname: Tsai
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004645:Empathy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009726:Nurses / Q000523:psychology*; D013624:Taiwan