Emphatic Tendency and Affecting Factors in Nursing students

Abstract

Background: The profound impact of empathy on quality nursing care has been recognized. Studies have shown that there has been little improvement in nurses’ communication skills, and that they should work to enhance this area. Therefore, it is very important for qualified nursing care to determine empathic tendency and factors that affect in nursing students, so to teach empathic approach and professional values, to develop correct communication and helping skills to the students in nursing education. Objectives: In this study it was aimed to determine empathy tendency in nursing students and factors that affect emphatic tendency. Methods: The sample of this study that is sectional and definitive consisted of 225 students who received education in Nursing Department  in Adıyaman University School of Health. Research data was collected with Personal Information Form and Emphatic Tendency Scale (ETS).Results :It was determined that 51.2% of the students participating in the survey were in the 20-22 age group, 65.3% were female and44.4% of them had 9 and close friends. It was determined that the average ETS score of the nursing students was 68.2 ± 10.3.The average ETS score of the female students was 69.3 ± 9.7, which was statistically significant difference (p = 0.028) than male students (66.1 ± 11.2). The average ETS score of the students who preferred nursing was 71.1 ± 8.0, and it was found to be statistically significantly higher than students have chosen nursing by family orientation, coincidence and other reasons (p = 0.001).Conclusion: According to the results of this study, it was seen the empathic tendencies of the nursing students are moderate and the average ETS score of the students are affected by the age, sex, place of living, number of close friends and reasons for choosing the profession.