Exploring Medical Students' Level of Empathy and its Correlation with Prosocial Behaviour in Jharkhand, India

Background Empathy was first introduced in the context of the doctor-patient relationship by Southard in 1918. It plays a crucial role in enhancing patient compliance and improving clinical outcomes. Recognizing its significance, there has been a global emphasis on integrating empathy into medical education. Objective To assess empathy levels among medical undergraduate students across different academic phases and to examine its relationship with self-reported social distancing behaviour during COVID-19. Method A multicentric cross-sectional, observational study was conducted among 459 undergraduate medical students from Phase one to Phase four of medical training across multiple medical schools in the state of Jharkhand, India. Empathy levels were assessed using the Jefferson Scale of Empathy - Student Version. Online data was analysed using SPSS Software version 24.0. Gender based score were tested with Student's unpaired t-test, MBBS phase-wise comparisons with ANOVA, and correlations between empathy and social distancing with Pearson's coefficient test. Result A total of 459 medical students participated in the study. The mean empathy score across all participants was 105.96 ± 16.55. A significant decline in empathy scores was observed up to the third phase of medical education, followed by an increase in the fourth phase. Correlation analysis revealed a positive but non-significant relationship (r = 0.079, p = 0.093) between empathy and self-reported social distancing behaviour. Conclusion The study findings highlight significant variations in empathy levels across different phases of medical education. Female students exhibited higher empathy levels than their male counterparts. Additionally, the 'perspective-taking' component of empathy showed a positive correlation with self-reported social distancing behaviour during COVID-19.