Introduction:

The training of future dentists should consider developing empathy while they are still students. The first step to consider such training is to assess empathic behavior.

Objective:

To measure levels of empathy in dental students of Universidad San Sebastián in Concepción, by gender and academic year.

Materials and methods:

The Spanish version of the Jefferson Scale of Physician Empathy (JSPE) for medical students (S version) was adapted and validated for the dental students of Universidad San Sebastián (Concepción, Chile) in 2016. The sample consisted of 462 students from first to fifth year. The data was compared by a trifactorial variance analysis (Model III).

Results:

The "Academic Year" factor showed that the average in the second year is relatively lower than in the first. However, beginning in the third year, levels tend to increase and remain relatively constant for the next academic years. The "gender" factor revealed that women had higher average empathy values compared to males.

Conclusion:

The factors studied (academic year and gender) shortly explain the variation of empathy in the sample of students analyzed. There are probably other factors that influence levels of empathy and that would explain better the behavior of estimated values of empathy.

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