The Empathy in Young Students of Health Professions

Objective: The assessment of empathy among different health professions has been focused almost exclusively on the cognitive and affective aspects or on specific professions, such as doctors. The Empathy Scale for Health Professions (ESHP) is a 12 item instrument developed by Mento and Settineri, including the expressive component of empathy. Method: In the present study the scale has been administered during 2013 to a total of 420 undergraduate students of different degree courses, belonging to thehealth professions. Results: Cronbach’s alpha value of total scale was 0.75 and both the Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and the Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) revealed a 3 component structure as hypothesised. There were no differences between males and females, neither between the professions considered. Conclusions:The results suggest that the ESHP should be a valid instrument to assess empathy during the laurea degree course, to provide the possibility of reflection about a transverse skill, involved in all health professions.