Abstract

ERAZO CORONADO, Ana María et al. Measurement of Empathetic Orientation in dentistry students of Metropolitana University of Barranquilla (Colombia). Salud, Barranquilla [online]. 2012, vol.28, n.3, pp.354-363. ISSN 0120-5552.

Objectives: To assess the level of empathetic orientation of the dentistry students at the Metropolitan University (Barranquilla, Colombia) . Subjects and methods: This study is based on a non-experimental, descriptive, cross-sectional research. 169 students of the Dentistry School of Metropolitan University who belonged to 1°, 2°, 3°, 4° and 5° levels participated in the study. The Jefferson Scale of Physician Empathy was applied. The Shapiro-Wilk normality test and homocedasticity Levene test were performed for the data analysis. Descriptive statistician statigraphs were considered in all the studiedfactors. Finally, average comparison mean was made through a Bifactorial analysis of variance. Results: There were significant differences between the different levels but not in regard to gender. The both variables behaved independently of each other. Means in the first four years are equal to each other but they all differ from the average of the fifth year, showing an increase of empathy. The levels of empathic orientation showed values located above the central value of the scale range between 20 and 140. Conclusion: The results show that the dependent variable changes between different levels. No gender differences were observed. However, the variable behavior in women reflects a "lower" stability with a slight tendency to increase over time, whereas men expressed more stable variations.

Keywords : Dentistry; empathy; professional education.

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