Cultivating Compassion: A Cross-Sectional Evaluation of Empathy Among Medical Undergraduate Students

BACKGROUND: Empathy plays a crucial role in medical practice, profoundly affecting patient outcomes and treatment. Understanding the factors that influence empathy among medical students can help in developing strategies to enhance empathetic skills during medical training. This study aims to evaluate the correlates of empathy among medical undergraduate students using an epidemiological cross-sectional design. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 270 medical undergraduate students from various academic years at JSS Medical College for four months (September 2023-December 2023). Convenient sampling was used to select study participants. Participants completed a standardized empathy questionnaire, the Jefferson Scale of Empathy Student Version (JSE-S) and a demographic survey. Statistical tests like Chi-square tests and Pearson’s correlation test were used. RESULTS: Among 270 students who participated in the study, 145(54%) were females and 125(46%) were males. The mean age of students was 22 + 1.8 years. The mean empathy score among males (79.72 + 9.83) and females (79.49 + 10.36). A correlation was made between the study participants' Age and Total Empathy Score which showed a statistically significant positive correlation (r= 0.265). CONCLUSION: This study highlights key correlates of empathy among medical undergraduate students. The similar empathy scores across genders highlight that both male and female students possess comparable levels of empathy. The increase in age among medical students influences empathy development which encourages the cultivation of empathetic healthcare professionals. Keywords: Correlates of Empathy, Clinical Exposure, Empathy, Medical Education, Undergraduate students