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Empathy

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Some researchers suggest that altruism operates on empathy. Empathy is the capacity to understand another person’s perspective, to feel what he or she feels. An empathetic person makes an emotional connection with others and feels compelled to help (Batson, 1991). Empathy can be expressed in several ways, including cognitive, affective, and motor.

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Empathy as a determining factor for nursing career selection.

Barbara Penprase¹, Barbara Oakley, Reuben Ternes

¹School of Nursing, Oakland University, Rochester, MI, USA. penprase@oakland.edu

The Journal of Nursing Education

|March 14, 2013

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Nursing students exhibit higher empathy than other students, suggesting empathy is key for those entering nursing. This research explores empathy and systemizing traits in nursing program selection and success.

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Area of Science:

Nursing Education
Psychology
Human Behavior

Background:

Empathy is crucial for quality nursing care.
Limited research exists on empathy in prospective nursing students.
Understanding student motivations for choosing nursing is important.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the role of empathy and systemizing traits in nursing student self-selection.
To determine if these traits predict success in nursing programs.
To explore gender differences in the importance of these characteristics for nursing students.

Main Methods:

Descriptive correlational study design.
Survey of 1,872 undergraduates across various majors, including nursing.
Utilized a large midwestern U.S. research university setting.

Main Results:

Nursing students demonstrated significantly higher empathy characteristics compared to students in other academic disciplines.
Preliminary findings suggest empathy is a distinguishing trait among nursing students.

Conclusions:

Empathy appears to be a significant factor in attracting students to nursing programs.
Further research is warranted to explore systemizing traits and gender differences.
These findings have implications for nursing student recruitment and retention strategies.