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Published on: February 2, 2020
Ageism and Empathy Among Dental Students in Southern Brazil
Luísa Helena do Nascimento Tôrres1, Magáli Beck Guimarães2, Leonardo Marchini3
1Department of Preventive and Social Dentistry, School of Dentistry, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil.
Purpose:
To investigate the association of ageism, empathy, and other possible explanatory factors among dental students in southern Brazil.
Methods:
An online questionnaire and in-person visits were used for collecting sociodemographic data, dental training experiences, and attitudes toward aging, and employing the validated Brazilian versions of the Ageism Scale for Dental Students (ASDS-Braz) and Jefferson Scale of Empathy (JSE). Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to validate the JSE and ASDS-Braz, and structural equation modeling (SEM) was then employed to explore the relationships between total ageism score, total empathy score, and other factors.
Results:
CFA for ASDS-Braz and JSE and the SEM showed marginal root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) values and displayed expected loading directions. Among 626 predoctoral dental students (91.5% response rate), SEM revealed significant associations between the university attended and total empathy score with total ageism score, and sex with total empathy score.
Conclusion:
Among southern Brazilian dental students, university attended and overall empathy levels are strongly linked to the total ageism score. At the same time, gender shows a significant correlation with the overall empathy score.
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