Abstract
Objective
To verify the degree of empathy of students attending the nursing program of a public university located in southeastern Brazil and assess their profile regarding the domains: Perspective Taking, Interpersonal Flexibility, Altruism, and Affective Sensibility.
Methods
Exploratory study conducted among undergraduate nursing students, using the Empathy Inventory (EI), a 40-item instrument designed to assess four dimensions of empathy.
Results
Of the total of 193 participants, 88.6% were women, 78.7% were under 25 years of age, with a mean of 23.4 years old (SD=±4.8). Regarding the semester, 89 (46.%) were attending between the first and fourth semesters, 74 (38.4%) between the fifth and eighth semesters, and 30 (15.5%) were attending the ninth or tenth semester. The undergraduate students presented empathy skills.
Conclusion
The nursing undergraduate students scored above the mean in all the dimensions assessed by the EI, showing a high level of empathy.
Empathy; Nursing education; Communication; Interpersonal relations