Comparative Study of Malaysian Medical Students’ Empathy Scores Between Preclinical and Clinical Training

This study aims to compare the empathy scores of Malaysian medical students between preclinical and clinical training, and to identify the predictive factors for empathic behaviour. In this cross-sectional study, the medical student version of the Jefferson Scale of Empathy (JSE-S) was distributed to medical students at Quest International University (QIU), Malaysia. The JSE-S scores are analysed using independent t-tests to determine any significant difference between the preclinical and clinical training. We use a one-way ANOVA test to identify the factors influencing medical students’ empathy levels. A total of 85% of the students responded to the questionnaires. The mean JSE-S scores for QIU medical students is 106.2 (M = 106.2, SD = 13.5). Female students have significantly higher empathy scores than males (F(1,240) = 8.32, p = 0.004). The compassionate domain of empathy scores increased significantly with an increase in the year of medical school (F(4,237) = 3.135, p = 0.015). Compared to medical students in preclinical training, clinical students had statistically significant higher empathy scores in compassionate care (t(240) = –2.08, p = 0.039). In general, medical students in QIU exhibited an increasing trend of empathy scores across their training. Interestingly, compared to preclinical students, clinical students had higher affective empathy scores (compassionate care) whereas their cognitive empathy scores remained unchanged. We suggest including courses on cognitive empathy training in the QIU curriculum.