Observational studyScientific reports2024
Exploring levels of empathy and assertiveness in final year physiotherapy students during clinical placements.
Observational study in Scientific reports, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
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Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed.
- Predictors of Empathy in Dental Education: Insights from a Cross-Sectional Measurement Using the Jefferson Scale.Oral health & preventive dentistry · 2026Article
- Interrelationships between moral sensitivity, empathy, and perceived professional preparedness among undergraduate nursing students: a path analysis.Frontiers in medicine · 2026Article
- Vocation of Human Care and Soft Skills in Nursing and Physiotherapy Students: A Cross-Sectional Study.Nursing reports (Pavia, Italy) · 2025Article
- Impact of grit, empathy, and communication competence on the clinical competence of nursing students in the post-COVID-19 era in Korea: a cross-sectional study.Journal of Korean biological nursing science · 2025Article
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
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Abstract
Empathy and assertiveness are two essential soft skills for any healthcare professional's competence and ethical development. It has been shown that empathy can be influenced throughout the training of a future healthcare professional, particularly during the clinical placement period. This research aims to assess fourth-year physiotherapy students' empathic and assertive development before and after clinical placement. A longitudinal observational study was conducted with fourth-year physiotherapy students during the academic year 2022/2023. A preliminary assessment of empathy and assertiveness levels was carried out before the start of the clinical placement and at the end of the placement using the Individual Reactivity Index to assess empathy and the Rathus Test to assess assertiveness. The results show a statistically significant difference (p ≤ 0.05) in both the empathy subscales of perspective-taking and empathic-concern between the pre- and postassessment, as well as an inverse correlation between the empathy subscale of personal distress and assertiveness. It is concluded that students show adequate results in empathy and assertiveness. However, there is some influence of clinical practice on the development of empathy, and future intervention studies need to be considered. Furthermore, students with higher levels of assertiveness have lower levels of personal distress, suggesting that assertiveness is closely related to empathy.
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