Empathy and spirituality in Medical students and residents

ABSTRACT

Introduction:

Empathy tends to decline throughout the course of medical training. The relationship between spirituality and empathy has not been widely explored.

Objective:

To correlate empathy and religiosity/spiritualism by means of a voluntary questionnaire applied to medical students and residents.

Methods:

This is an exploratory cross-sectional study using an online questionnaire completed on a voluntary basis by medical students and residents, consisting of: socio-demographic data, an empathy questionnaire and questions about religiosity/spiritualism.

Results:

From 1,550 invitations, 273 volunteer participants responded (17.6%). Most were Catholic (103 - 37.7%), followed by agnostics (84 - 30.8%), and Protestants and Kardecists (27 - 9.9% each). The Jefferson Empathy Scale had a mean score of 120.4 (from 90 to 140). Religious belief and degree of empathy did not present any correlation. Neither concept presented significant difference over the course of medical training.

Conclusion:

Empathy and religiosity/spiritualism did not present any correlation among medical students and residents.

Keywords:
Empathy; Spirituality; Medical Students; Medical Education