Investigation of empathy amongst dietetic interns at selected primary and tertiary health-care facilities

AIM: Empathy is an essential aspect in the delivery of quality nutrition care and promoting better outcomes in patients. With an increased emphasis of patient-centred care in dietetic practice, empathy should underpin the construct of the curriculum in dietetic education. The present study investigated the empathy level of dietetic interns through self-reporting measures and patients' perception.

METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted on a total of 57 dietetic interns and 99 patients from primary and tertiary health care settings. The dietetic interns completed the Toronto Empathy Questionnaire (TEQ) while the Consultation and Relational Empathy (CARE) measure was self-administered by patients. Socio-demographic information of participants was collected.

RESULTS: The dietetic interns' mean (standard deviation [SD]) TEQ scores were 46.90 ± 5.28 and 47.78 ± 5.34 in primary and tertiary care, respectively. CARE measure scores rated by patients in the primary care were 38.61 ± 8.38 and for tertiary setting, the scores were slightly higher (39.47 ± 7.65). The settings, gender, ethnicity and period of internship did not affect dietetic interns' empathy level. In primary care, CARE scores were significantly different between patients' age grouping (P = 0.007).

CONCLUSIONS: Findings from the present study showed that patients' age significantly affected their perception of dietetic interns' empathy in primary health care. These preliminary findings could facilitate an understanding of the level of empathy amongst interns for consideration in the future design of dietetic training.