Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40234844›Full record

ArticleBMC medical education2025

Trajectories of medical students' empathy nowadays: a longitudinal study using a comprehensive framework of empathy.

Valerie Carrard, Céline Bourquin, Sylvie Berney, Setareh Ranjbar, Katja Schlegel, Jacques Gaume, Pierre-Alexandre Bart, Marianne Schmid Mast, Martin Preisig, Alexandre Berney

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Article in BMC medical education, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
4citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

4 citing papers in PubMed.

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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

10 authors.

Valerie CarrardPsychiatric Liaison Service, Department of Psychiatry, Lausanne University Hospital (CHUV) and University of Lausanne, Avenue de Beaumont 23, 1011, Lausanne, Switzerland.
Céline BourquinPsychiatric Liaison Service, Department of Psychiatry, Lausanne University Hospital (CHUV) and University of Lausanne, Avenue de Beaumont 23, 1011, Lausanne, Switzerland.
Sylvie BerneyService of General Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, Lausanne University Hospital (CHUV) and University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland.
Setareh RanjbarPsychiatric Epidemiology and Psychopathology Research Centre, Department of Psychiatry, Lausanne University Hospital (CHUV) and University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland.
Katja SchlegelInstitute of Psychology, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
Jacques GaumeAddiction Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, Lausanne University Hospital (CHUV) and University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland.
Pierre-Alexandre BartDepartment of Internal Medicine, Lausanne University Hospital (CHUV) and University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland.
Marianne Schmid MastDepartment of Organizational Behavior, Faculty of Business and Economics (HEC Lausanne), University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland.
Martin PreisigPsychiatric Epidemiology and Psychopathology Research Centre, Department of Psychiatry, Lausanne University Hospital (CHUV) and University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland.
Alexandre BerneyPsychiatric Liaison Service, Department of Psychiatry, Lausanne University Hospital (CHUV) and University of Lausanne, Avenue de Beaumont 23, 1011, Lausanne, Switzerland. alexandre.berney@chuv.ch.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundFor more than a decade, the literature has been dominated by the notion that medical students may paradoxically lose their empathy during medical school. However, medical curricula have significantly evolved, and the question is whether this is still the case. The present study aimed to describe the trajectories of different dimensions of empathy from the beginning to the end of a six-year medical curriculum and explore the influence of different psychosocial and health-related factors.

methodsIn an open cohort design, all medical students at the University of Lausanne (Switzerland) were invited to complete four waves of yearly online questionnaires. Cognitive, affective, and behavioral empathy were measured with three validated instruments, and emotion recognition was assessed with a performance test. For each measure, linear mixed models including an array of psychosocial and health-related potential covariates were modelled. Different temporal variance-covariance structures and nonlinear trajectories were tested.

resultsThe final sample included 3224 questionnaires completed by 1667 medical students. The cognitive and affective dimensions of empathy significantly increased in the first half of medical school, followed by a plateau, whereas behavioral empathy remained stable. For emotion recognition, a significant linear increase was observed. The only covariate with substantial influence was gender: students identifying as male presented similar trajectories of empathy and emotion recognition but with overall lower scores than students identifying as female or nonbinary.

conclusionsThis study revealed significant increases in cognitive empathy, affective empathy, and emotion recognition. Developments in today's medical curricula may have contributed to the observed increase in empathy. Future multisite studies are warranted to identify the features of the educational environment that impact the trajectories of empathy during medical school.

Indexed as

EmpathyStudents, MedicalAdultCurriculumEducation, Medical, UndergraduateEmotionsFemaleHumansLongitudinal StudiesMaleSurveys and QuestionnairesSwitzerlandYoung AdultEmotion recognitionEmpathyLongitudinal studyMedical students

Identifiers

PMID40234844
PMCPMC11998332

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.