Psychometric properties of the Spanish version of the Jefferson Scale of Empathy: making sense of the total score through a second order confirmatory factor analysis

BMC Medical Education

Research Article

Montserrat Virumbrales¹  Marta Elorduy¹  Jorge Palés²  Patrício Costa³  Manuel J. Costa³  Alexandra Ferreira-Valente³ 

[1] Universitat Internacional de Catalunya, School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Josep Trueta s/n 08165 Sant Cugat del Vallès, Barcelona, Spain;University of Barcelona, School of Medicine, Casanova 143, 08036, Barcelona, Spain;University of Minho, School of Health Sciences, Life and Health Sciences Research Institute, Campus de Gualtar, 4710-057, Braga, Portugal;

关键词: Empathy;    Medical students;    Validity and reliability;    Second order confirmatory factor analysis;    Gender;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12909-016-0763-5

 received in 2015-07-17, accepted in 2016-09-06,  发布年份 2016

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundEmpathy is a key aspect of the physician-patient interactions. The Jefferson Scale of Empathy (JSE) is one of the most used empathy measures of medical students. The development of cross-cultural empathy studies depends on valid and reliable translations of the JSE. This study sought to: (1) adapt and assess the psychometric properties in Spanish students of the Spanish JSE validated in Mexican students; (2) test a second order latent factor model.MethodsThe Spanish JSE was adapted from the Spanish JSE-S, resulting in a final version of the measure. A non-probabilistic sample of 1104 medical students of two Spanish medical schools completed a socio-demographic and the Spanish JSE-S. Descriptive statistics, along with a confirmatory factor analysis, the average variance extracted (AVE), Cronbach’s alphas and composite reliability (CR) coefficients were computed. An independent samples t-test was performed to access sex differences.ResultsThe Spanish JSE-S demonstrated acceptable to good sensitivity (individual items – except for item 2 – and JSE-S total score: −2.72 < Sk < 0.35 and −0.77 < Ku < 7.85), convergent validity (AVE: between 0.28 and 0.45) and reliability (Cronbach’s alphas: between 0.62 and 0.78; CR: between 0.62 and 0.87). The confirmatory factor analysis supported the three-factor solution and the second order latent factor model.ConclusionsThe findings provide support for the sensitivity, construct validity and reliability of the adapted Spanish JSE-S with Spanish medical students. Data confirm the hypothesized second order latent factor model. This version may be useful in future research examining empathy in Spanish medical students, as well as in cross-cultural studies.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© The Author(s). 2016