title: Levels of empathy in undergraduate emergency health, nursing, and midwifery students: a longitudinal study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This research examines the extent and nature of empathy among emergency health (paramedic), nursing, and midwifery students at one Australian university and investigates the longitudinal changes in empathy levels across the course of study.
  
  
  METHODS
  First-, second-, and third-year students at Monash University completed the Jefferson Scale of Empathy-Health Professional (JSE-HP) in 2008, 2009, and 2010, and the resulting mean empathy scores were analyzed by course, year of course, year of study, age, and sex.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Midwifery students were found to have higher empathy levels than nursing and emergency health students. Second- and third-year students scored higher than their counterparts in the first year. Empathy levels dipped in 2009 and rose in 2010. Students aged 26-30 years and 31-35 years recorded higher scores than their younger colleagues, and female students were found to be more empathic than their male counterparts.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The finding that empathy levels are relatively stable over the term of study contributes to the understanding of how empathy evolves over the course of study and offers insights into the importance of incorporating and promoting empathy in health care curricula.
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Emergency Health and Paramedic Practice, Monash University-Peninsula Campus, Frankston, Vic, Australia.
authors.forename: Brett
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Williams
authors.affiliation: Department of Occupational Therapy, Monash University-Peninsula Campus, Frankston, Vic, Australia.
authors.forename: Ted
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Brown
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Emergency Health and Paramedic Practice, Monash University-Peninsula Campus, Frankston, Vic, Australia.
authors.forename: Malcolm
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Boyle
authors.affiliation: School of Nursing and Midwifery, Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, Monash University-Peninsula Campus, Frankston, Vic, Australia.
authors.forename: Lisa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: McKenna
authors.affiliation: Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, Monash University-Berwick Campus, Berwick, Vic, Australia.
authors.forename: Claire
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Palermo
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Emergency Health and Paramedic Practice, Monash University-Peninsula Campus, Frankston, Vic, Australia.
authors.forename: Jamie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Etherington
keywords: empathy; midwifery; nursing; paramedics; undergraduates