![]() ![]() ![]() In their multinational study, published in this issue of Academic Medicine, Costa and colleagues 1 examine the underlying constructs of the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) 2 and the Jefferson Scale of Empathy (JSE) 3 in samples of medical students. Such validity evidence is readily available for the JSE, and the Commentary authors recommend that researchers make efforts to provide pertinent validity support for any other instrument measuring empathy in health professionals-in-training and in-practice. The Commentary authors suggest that any empathy-measuring instrument in the context of health professions education and patient care requires the crucial evidence of significant relationships with indicators of clinical competence and positive patient outcomes. These differences are reflected in the content of the items, which determines the underlying constructs of the two instruments. Also, the author of the IRI conceptualized empathy as a combination of cognitive and emotional attributes, whereas the authors of the JSE defined empathy as a predominantly cognitive attribute. The Commentary’s authors draw attention to the fact that the IRI was developed for administration to the general population, whereas the JSE was developed specifically for administration to students and practitioners of health professions. The authors of this Commentary propose that in comparing two instruments that both purport to measure empathy, researchers or test users must pay close attention to the target populations, the conceptualizations of empathy, and the validity evidence in relation to pertinent criterion measures. In their study published in this issue of Academic Medicine, Costa and colleagues confirmed the underlying constructs of the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) and the Jefferson Scale of Empathy (JSE) in medical students. Other disclosures: The authors declare a potential conflict of interest in writing this Invited Commentary because they developed the Jefferson Scale of Empathy used in the study by Costa and colleagues.Įthical approval: Reported as not applicable.Ĭorrespondence should be addressed to Mohammadreza Hojat, Center for Research in Medical Education and Health Care, Sidney Kimmel Medical College, Thomas Jefferson University, 1015 Walnut St., Suite 320B, Philadelphia, PA 19107 e-mail. 2017 92:860–867.įunding/Support: Supported, in part, by funding from the Noguchi Medical Research Institute, Tokyo, Japan. Measuring medical students’ empathy: Exploring the underlying constructs of and associations between two widely used self-report instruments in five countries. Gonnella is professor of medicine, emeritus dean, and founder, Center for Research in Medical Education and Health Care, Sidney Kimmel Medical College, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.Įditor’s Note: This is an Invited Commentary on Costa P, de Carvalho-Filho MA, Schweller M, et al. Hojat is research professor of psychiatry and human behavior and director, Jefferson Longitudinal Study of Medical Education, Sidney Kimmel Medical College, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |