Exploratory and Confirmatory Factor Analysis of the Jefferson Scale of Empathy among Chinese Medical Students

Background: Empathy is critical for medical training, clinical practice, even the future professionalism of medical students. The Jefferson scale of empathy- Students version (JSE-S) was developed for estimating empathy among medical students and it’s a psychometrically sound instrument. The purpose of the study is to develop a validated translation of JSE-S that used by Chinese medical students and to confirm the psychometric properties, underlying component and latent variable structure of the Chinese JSE-S. Methods: The JSE-S was translated into Chinese based on standardized guidelines. The sample was divided to two parts. The first half of the data was used for exploratory factor analysis (EFA) using principal component analysis(PCA) with oblique rotation(promax), and the latter was used for confirmatory factor analysis(CFA) using structural equation modeling(SEM). Results: 749 questionnaires (94.81%) were eligible. Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of the JSE-S for the entire sample was 0.89. EFA indicated that three-component solution was acceptable, and the three components are "Perspective Taking", "Compassionate Care" and "Emotional Detachment" respectively. Item 18 was proposed to move to the third factor. CFA indicated that the three-factors model showed an acceptable goodness of fit. Conclusions: Reliability and validity of the Chinese JSE-S were satisfactory among Chinese medical students. The results supporting the underlying factor structure of the Chinese JSE-S.