Development of a scale measuring empathetic concern for healthcare students and professionals

Given the scarcity of reliable scales to measure empathetic concern within Taiwanese medical and healthcare settings, we developed the Empathetic Concern Scale for Healthcare Students and Professionals, using exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis to extract and validate the scale's factor structure and consistency. Through an exploratory factor analysis with 390 medical and healthcare students and professionals, we derived two dimensions: an urge to help (seven items) and sympathy (seven items). Subsequently, we identified two factors through a confirmatory factor analysis with 270 medical and healthcare students and professionals: an urge to help (seven items) and sympathy (five items). These factors showed satisfactory goodness-of-fit indices, validity, and reliability. The findings revealed that the Empathetic Concern Scale for Healthcare Students and Professionals can be used as a formal instrument to assess empathetic concern in medical and healthcare settings.