Exploring levels of empathy and assertiveness in final year physiotherapy students during clinical placements.

Autor: Hernández-Xumet JE; Movement and Health Research Group, Departamento de Medicina Física y Farmacología, Facultad de Ciencias de La Salud, Universidad de La Laguna (ULL), La Laguna, Spain. jhernanx@ull.edu.es.; Hospital Universitario Nuestra Señora de Candelaria, Servicio Canario de La Salud, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain. jhernanx@ull.edu.es., García-Hernández AM; Departamento de Enfermería, Facultad de Ciencias de La Salud, Universidad de La Laguna (ULL), La Laguna, Spain., Fernández-González JP; Movement and Health Research Group, Departamento de Medicina Física y Farmacología, Facultad de Ciencias de La Salud, Universidad de La Laguna (ULL), La Laguna, Spain.; Gerencia de Atención Primaria de Tenerife, Servicio Canario de La Salud, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain., Marrero-González CM; Movement and Health Research Group, Departamento de Medicina Física y Farmacología, Facultad de Ciencias de La Salud, Universidad de La Laguna (ULL), La Laguna, Spain.; Departamento de Enfermería, Facultad de Ciencias de La Salud, Universidad de La Laguna (ULL), La Laguna, Spain.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Scientific reports [Sci Rep] 2024 Jun 10; Vol. 14 (1), pp. 13349. Date of Electronic Publication: 2024 Jun 10.
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-64148-8
Abstrakt: Empathy and assertiveness are two essential soft skills for any healthcare professional's competence and ethical development. It has been shown that empathy can be influenced throughout the training of a future healthcare professional, particularly during the clinical placement period. This research aims to assess fourth-year physiotherapy students' empathic and assertive development before and after clinical placement. A longitudinal observational study was conducted with fourth-year physiotherapy students during the academic year 2022/2023. A preliminary assessment of empathy and assertiveness levels was carried out before the start of the clinical placement and at the end of the placement using the Individual Reactivity Index to assess empathy and the Rathus Test to assess assertiveness. The results show a statistically significant difference (p ≤ 0.05) in both the empathy subscales of perspective-taking and empathic-concern between the pre- and postassessment, as well as an inverse correlation between the empathy subscale of personal distress and assertiveness. It is concluded that students show adequate results in empathy and assertiveness. However, there is some influence of clinical practice on the development of empathy, and future intervention studies need to be considered. Furthermore, students with higher levels of assertiveness have lower levels of personal distress, suggesting that assertiveness is closely related to empathy.
(© 2024. The Author(s).)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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