Factor structure of the Jefferson Scale for Empathy among medical undergraduates from South India
Background: Empathy is a multidimensional construct and is considered an essential attribute among healthcare professionals. The Jefferson Scale for Empathy (JSE) is a commonly used tool to measure physician empathy and has been used in medical students as well; however, the psychometric properties...
Saved in:
Main Authors: | , , |
---|---|
Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications
2023-07-01
|
Series: | Indian Journal of Psychiatry |
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://journals.lww.com/10.4103/indianjpsychiatry.indianjpsychiatry_385_23 |
Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
_version_ | 1825206205095608320 |
---|---|
author | Samir Kumar Praharaj Santosh Salagre Podila Sathya Venkata Narasimha Sharma |
author_facet | Samir Kumar Praharaj Santosh Salagre Podila Sathya Venkata Narasimha Sharma |
author_sort | Samir Kumar Praharaj |
collection | DOAJ |
description | Background:
Empathy is a multidimensional construct and is considered an essential attribute among healthcare professionals. The Jefferson Scale for Empathy (JSE) is a commonly used tool to measure physician empathy and has been used in medical students as well; however, the psychometric properties have not been well studied in India. We aimed to study the factor structure of JSE among medical undergraduates.
Methods:
This was a secondary analysis of baseline data obtained from the Stigma, Empathy and Attitude module study among medical undergraduates (N = 157). The scores obtained on the 20-item JSE Medical Student Version were subjected to principal component analysis with varimax rotation. Eigenvalues greater than unity, scree plot, and Horn’s parallel analysis were used for identifying the factors. Items with loading more than 0.4 were included based on Steven’s recommendation.
Results:
The sample was adequate for factor analysis (Kaiser–Meyer–Olkin (KMO) measure 0.832). Five factors were extracted using principal component analysis, which explained 60% of the variance. The first three appeared as stable factors, and the last two factors had two items each. The first factor was the strongest (explained 18.8% of variance) with loadings from nine items. The second factor (explained 15.6% of variance) had loadings from six items, and two of the items showed correlation with the first factor.
Conclusions:
JSE has a multidimensional structure with five factors in our sample of medical undergraduates. |
format | Article |
id | doaj-art-01f4cd84d3344c89ad42255643f2c75b |
institution | Kabale University |
issn | 0019-5545 1998-3794 |
language | English |
publishDate | 2023-07-01 |
publisher | Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications |
record_format | Article |
series | Indian Journal of Psychiatry |
spelling | doaj-art-01f4cd84d3344c89ad42255643f2c75b2025-02-07T11:22:14ZengWolters Kluwer Medknow PublicationsIndian Journal of Psychiatry0019-55451998-37942023-07-0165775575910.4103/indianjpsychiatry.indianjpsychiatry_385_23Factor structure of the Jefferson Scale for Empathy among medical undergraduates from South IndiaSamir Kumar PraharajSantosh SalagrePodila Sathya Venkata Narasimha SharmaBackground: Empathy is a multidimensional construct and is considered an essential attribute among healthcare professionals. The Jefferson Scale for Empathy (JSE) is a commonly used tool to measure physician empathy and has been used in medical students as well; however, the psychometric properties have not been well studied in India. We aimed to study the factor structure of JSE among medical undergraduates. Methods: This was a secondary analysis of baseline data obtained from the Stigma, Empathy and Attitude module study among medical undergraduates (N = 157). The scores obtained on the 20-item JSE Medical Student Version were subjected to principal component analysis with varimax rotation. Eigenvalues greater than unity, scree plot, and Horn’s parallel analysis were used for identifying the factors. Items with loading more than 0.4 were included based on Steven’s recommendation. Results: The sample was adequate for factor analysis (Kaiser–Meyer–Olkin (KMO) measure 0.832). Five factors were extracted using principal component analysis, which explained 60% of the variance. The first three appeared as stable factors, and the last two factors had two items each. The first factor was the strongest (explained 18.8% of variance) with loadings from nine items. The second factor (explained 15.6% of variance) had loadings from six items, and two of the items showed correlation with the first factor. Conclusions: JSE has a multidimensional structure with five factors in our sample of medical undergraduates.https://journals.lww.com/10.4103/indianjpsychiatry.indianjpsychiatry_385_23empathyfactor analysismedical undergraduates |
spellingShingle | Samir Kumar Praharaj Santosh Salagre Podila Sathya Venkata Narasimha Sharma Factor structure of the Jefferson Scale for Empathy among medical undergraduates from South India Indian Journal of Psychiatry empathy factor analysis medical undergraduates |
title | Factor structure of the Jefferson Scale for Empathy among medical undergraduates from South India |
title_full | Factor structure of the Jefferson Scale for Empathy among medical undergraduates from South India |
title_fullStr | Factor structure of the Jefferson Scale for Empathy among medical undergraduates from South India |
title_full_unstemmed | Factor structure of the Jefferson Scale for Empathy among medical undergraduates from South India |
title_short | Factor structure of the Jefferson Scale for Empathy among medical undergraduates from South India |
title_sort | factor structure of the jefferson scale for empathy among medical undergraduates from south india |
topic | empathy factor analysis medical undergraduates |
url | https://journals.lww.com/10.4103/indianjpsychiatry.indianjpsychiatry_385_23 |
work_keys_str_mv | AT samirkumarpraharaj factorstructureofthejeffersonscaleforempathyamongmedicalundergraduatesfromsouthindia AT santoshsalagre factorstructureofthejeffersonscaleforempathyamongmedicalundergraduatesfromsouthindia AT podilasathyavenkatanarasimhasharma factorstructureofthejeffersonscaleforempathyamongmedicalundergraduatesfromsouthindia |