Empathy among dental students in a Nigerian institution.

Objectives: To determine the reliability and validity of the Jefferson Scale of Empathy-Health Profession Students (JSE-HPS) version as a tool to measure the empathy levels in undergraduate dental students in Nigeria.

Methods: A cross-sectional study conducted from 15 December 2015 to 12 January 2016 among 234 undergraduate dental students of the University of Lagos, Nigeria. Participants were proportionately selected from the first to sixth year by systematic sampling technique. Data were collected with a self-administered JSE-HPS questionnaire with internal consistency determined by Cronbach's α-coefficient reliability test. Data were analysed with SPSS software. Exploratory factor analysis was used to test for the fundamental construct validity of the scale among the students. P values <0.05 were considered significant.

Results: The response rate of the respondents was 90.60% with 212 completed questionnaires with a mean age (SD) of 21.18 years (2.43) and internal reliability (Cronbach's α-coefficient) was 0.84. Factor analysis revealed "Compassionate Care," "Standing in Patients' Shoes" and "Perspective Taking" as first, second and third factors, respectively. The total mean empathy score (SD) was 104.01 (19.64). The mean empathy for females (SD) of 105.34 (17.31) was not significantly higher than the males (P = 0.08). There was a significant difference in empathy levels between the second- and the fourth-year students (P = 0.01).

Conclusion: The mean JSE-HPS score was comparable to those reported for dental, medical and other health professions students and physicians. Thus, this study demonstrates the construct validity and reliability of the JSE-HPS for measuring empathy among Nigerian dental students.