Psychometric properties of the Jefferson Empathy Scale in four nursing student faculties

Castillo, Víctor Pedrero; Calzadilla-Núñez, Aracelis; Moya-Ahumada, Claudia; Torres-Martínez, Pilar; Pastén, Pablo Castro; Díaz-Narváez, Víctor Patricio

doi:10.1590/S1980-220X2020023903741

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ORIGINAL ARTICLE • Rev. esc. enferm. USP 55 • 2021 • https://doi.org/10.1590/S1980-220X2020023903741 copy

Psychometric properties of the Jefferson Empathy Scale in four nursing student faculties

Propriedades psicométricas da Jefferson Empathy Scale em quatro faculdades de estudantes de enfermagem

Propiedades psicométricas de la Jefferson Empathy Scale en cuatro facultades de estudiantes de enfermería

Authorship SCIMAGO INSTITUTIONS RANKINGS

ABSTRACT

Objective

To evaluate the psychometric properties of the Jefferson Medical Empathy Scale, Spanish version (JSE-S), its factorial structure, reliability, and the presence of invariance between genders in the behavior of empathy levels among Chilean nursing students.

Method

Instrumental research design. The JSE-S was applied to 1,320 nursing students. A confirmatory factor analysis was used. An invariance study between genders was carried out. Descriptive statistics were estimated. Between genders, Student’s T distribution was applied alongside a homoscedasticity analysis. The level of significance was α ≤ 0.05.

Results

The confirmatory factor analysis determined the existence of three dimensions in the matrix. The statistical results of the invariance tests were significant, and allowed comparison between genders. Differences were found between mean empathy values, as well as in some of its dimensions between genders.

Conclusion

The factor structure of empathy data and its dimensions is in correspondence with the underlying three-dimensional model. There are differences in empathy levels and their dimensions between genders, with the exception of the compassionate care dimension, which was distributed similarly. Women were more empathetic than men.

Empathy; Students, Nursing; Psychometrics; Education

Item	Mean	SD	Effect size of discrimination index*	Correlation item test†
Item1	5.92	1.90	1.10	0.33
Item2	6.79	0.61	0.65	0.22
Item3	4.29	1.66	0.94	0.30
Item4	6.74	0.68	0.63	0.24
Item5	6.17	1.20	0.79	0.23
Item6	4.00	1.81	1.01	0.38
Item7	6.57	1.19	0.83	0.47
Item8	6.05	1.59	1.19	0.42
Item9	6.58	0.88	0.98	0.39
Item10	6.53	0.85	1.02	0.43
Item11	5.76	1.60	1.22	0.50
Item12	6.04	1.47	1.22	0.37
Item13	6.48	0.99	1.00	0.49
Item14	6.57	1.06	0.94	0.26
Item15	6.00	1.52	0.94	0.50
Item16	6.65	0.76	1.04	0.20
Item17	5.23	1.66	0.87	0.24
Item18	3.63	1.79	0.99	0.20
Item19	6.06	1.55	0.67	0.34
Item20	6.70	0.83	0.84	0.34

Items	Compassionate Care (F1)	Perspective Adoption (F2)	Walking in patient’s shoes (F3)
Item2	0.18	0.49	-0.09
Item4	0.28	0.36	-0.16
Item5	-0.06	0.58	-0.05
Item9	0.17	0.59	0.06
Item10	0.07	0.67	-0.07
Item13	0.15	0.53	0.05
Item15	0.14	0.40	0.04
Item16	0.31	0.53	0.04
Item17	-0.30	0.63	0.07
Item20	0.17	0.62	0.00
Item1	0.52	0.10	0.00
Item7	0.72	0.05	-0.06
Item8	0.69	0.04	0.04
Item11	0.49	0.15	0.10
Item12	0.65	0.12	0.03
Item14	0.65	0.20	0.10
Item19	0.48	-0.12	-0.08
Item18	0.15	0.08	0.18
Item3	-0.01	0.02	0.68
Item6	0.08	-0.05	0.67
F1
F2	0.54
F3	0.27	0.19

Latent Factor	Item	Factor Loadings	Standard error
Compassionate care (F1)	Item1	0.55	0.04
	Item7	0.75	0.04
	Item8	0.70	0.03
	Item11	0.63	0.03
	Item12	0.73	0.03
	Item14	0.73	0.04
	Item18	0.25	0.04
	Item19	0.29	0.05
Perspective adoption (F2)	Item2	0.68	0.04
	Item4	0.59	0.04
	Item5	0.36	0.04
	Item9	0.70	0.03
	Item10	0.73	0.03
	Item13	0.66	0.03
	Item15	0.53	0.03
	Item16	0.81	0.03
	Item17	0.39	0.04
	Item20	0.72	0.03
Walking in patient’s shoes (F3)	Item3	0.76	0.11
Walking in patient’s shoes (F3)	Item6	0.66	0.10
	F1	F2	F3
F1	1.00
F2	0.79	1.00
F3	0.22	0.16	1.00

	n	Empathy			Compassionate care			Perspective adoption			Walking in patient’s shoes
	n	M	SD	Rank	M	SD	Rank	M	SD	Rank	M	SD	Rank
USS-C
Female	312	119.79	9.75	78-140	43.26	5.26	23-49	64.36	4.35	46-70	12.18	3.52	4-21
Male	84	118.80	11.19	75-134	43.31	6.26	13-49	63.42	5.48	44-70	12.07	3.21	5-20
Total	396	119.58	10.07	75-140	43.27	5.48	13-49	64.16	4.62	44-70	12.15	3.45	4-21
USS-S
Female	403	119.91	10.06	86-140	43.69	5.73	9-49	64.12	4.72	48-70	12.10	3.74	3-21
Male	76	115.00	12.97	70-134	41.91	5.97	24-49	61.76	7.01	37-70	11.33	3.62	3-21
Total	479	119.13	10.71	70-140	43.41	5.80	9-49	63.75	5.22	37-70	11.98	3.73	3-21
UDA
Female	132	115.68	12.56	77-138	41.48	7.18	9-49	63.25	6.07	38-70	10.95	3.66	3-21
Male	36	114.72	9.64	95-131	41.56	6.30	22-49	61.83	5.13	47-70	11.33	3.12	6-19
Total	168	115.48	11.97	77-138	41.50	7.00	9-49	62.95	5.90	38-70	11.03	3.55	3-21
UM-T
Female	226	119.28	12.84	49-140	42.77	7.36	14-49	64.17	6.16	27-70	12.34	3.83	3-21
Male	51	117.04	13.25	77-137	42.14	7.68	18-49	64.18	5.67	43-70	10.73	3.49	5-19
Total	277	118.87	12.92	49-140	42.65	7.41	14-49	64.17	6.06	27-70	12.04	3.81	3-21
Total sample
Female	1,073	119.22	11.01	49-140	43.10	6.20	9-49	64.09	5.14	27-70	12.03	3.71	3-21
Male	247	116.67	12.06	70-137	42.38	6.51	13-49	62.83	6.03	37-70	11.46	3.40	3-21
Total	1,320	118.75	11.25	49-140	42.96	6.27	9-49	63.86	5.34	27-70	11.92	3.66	3-21

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E-mail: reeusp@usp.br

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[1] Corresponding author: Víctor Patricio Díaz Narváez Universidad Andres Bello Echaurren 237, 4th floor, Of. 12, Santiago, Metropolitan Region, Chile victor.diaz@unab.cl