title: Psychometric testing of the Jefferson Scale of Empathy Health Profession Students' version with Australian paramedic students.
abstract: Evidence now suggests that improved empathic behaviors can have a positive impact on healthcare outcomes. Therefore, having psychometrically-sound empathy scales is important for healthcare educators. In this study, the factor structure of the 20-item Jefferson Scale Empathy-Health Profession Students' version, when completed by a group of undergraduate paramedic students from a large Australian university, was investigated. Data from the Scale completed by 330 paramedic students were analyzed using principal components analysis followed by a maximum likelihood confirmatory factor analysis to test goodness of fit to the sample data. Two factors emerged from the principal components analysis, "compassionate care" and "perspective taking", accounting for 44.2% of the total variance. The 17-item two-factor model produced good model fit and good reliability estimates. Three of the original items did not fit the model. Results from the confirmatory factor analysis suggest that the 17-item Jefferson Scale Empathy-Health Profession Students' version is a valid and reliable measure for undergraduate paramedic students' empathy levels.
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Emergency Health and Paramedic Practice, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. brett.williams@monash.edu
authors.forename: Brett
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Williams
authors.forename: Ted
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Brown
authors.forename: Malcolm
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Boyle
authors.forename: Simon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Dousek
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000488:Allied Health Personnel / Q000193:education* / Q000523:psychology*; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D001315:Australia; D015331:Cohort Studies; D004504:Education, Medical, Undergraduate; D004645:Empathy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007400:Interprofessional Relations; D008297:Male; D008960:Models, Psychological; D025341:Principal Component Analysis; D011369:Professional-Patient Relations; D011594:Psychometrics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013337:Students, Medical / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult