Investigation of Empathic Skill Levels of Nursing Students In Terms of Some Variables: A Cross-sectional Study

Background: Continuing communication without empathy in nurse-patient relationships prevents a meaningful interaction. Nursing students should be provided with opportunities to develop their empathy skills so that nurses who can understand and help patients' feelings should be given care to the patient.. Objectives: This study was conducted to determine the empathic skill levels of nursing students and to evaluate their empathic skill levels in terms of some variables. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in April-May 2014. The population of the study consisted of 589 students studying in the nursing department of Ayd？n Health School in the 2013-2014 academic year and 247 students formed the sample. Personal information form and Empathic Skill Scale (ESS) Form B were used as data collection tools. The SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences ) for Windows 21 program was used for the evaluation of the data. Results: The mean age of the students who participated in the study was 20.20 ± 1.647, 51% (n = 126) were in the 1st grade, 18.6% (n = 46) were in the 2nd grade, 16.2% (n = 40) were in the 3rd grade and 14.2% (n = 35) were 4th grade. The mean ESS score of the students was found to be 155.65 ± 27.553, while the mean ESS score was 157.55 ± 28.025 in female students and 149.59 ± 25.270 in male students. And the mean ESS score of female students was higher compared to male students and this difference was statistically signficant (U=4593,000 p<0.047). It was determined that there was a difference between the students' ESS scores and their academic achievement (KW = 6.466, p = 0.039) Conclusion: It was concluded that the students' empathic skill levels were prominently different between female and male students, and that their empathic skill levels were significantly different in terms of their academic achievement and their class levels