Niveles de empatía en Internos de la Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud de una universidad de Guayaquil durante el periodo 2023-2024.

Abstract

Empathy refers to the ability to understand another person's experiences and feelings. Objective: To determine the level of empathy that exists in the Interns of the Faculty of Health Sciences, during the period 2023-2024. Methodology: descriptive study of a quantitative, prospective and cross-sectional type. The instrument used was the Jefferson Empathy Scale with three self-perceived components: compassionate care, taking the patient's perspective and the ability to put oneself in another's shoes. Population and Sample: Medicine, Nursing and Nutrition Interns of the UCSG, carried out through a Non-Probabilistic Random Sampling. Results: 60% of male students exhibit slightly higher empathy than female students in Medicine and Nursing, which could reflect differences in training or social expectations that affect students based on their gender, while in the Nutrition course, where 70% of women have higher empathy, it could be related to the nature of the course or to socialization factors that favor the development of empathic skills in this group. Conclusion: When relating the level of empathy to sex, the analysis of the results suggests that male interns present a higher average level of empathy compared to female interns. This finding challenges some traditional perceptions about empathy in health contexts and underlines the importance of considering the influence of sex on the development of this crucial skill for clinical practice.