The jefferson scale of empathy: measurement properties, underlying components, norms, and cutoff points in dentistry students in latin america. a multicentric study

The empathy observed by practicing health professionals is the product of the quality of empathic training received from the beginning of their studies. Such training is a problem that must be considered from the early undergraduate years. The quality of community dental health depends, in part, on the empathy of its professionals. The objective of the study is to determine the psychometric properties of the Jefferson Medical Empathy Scale in dental students from Latin America and to contribute to the development of a regional standard for evaluating empathy scores. A cross-sectional and multicentric study was carried out. We selected 4407 students from 18 dental schools from seven Latin American countries (Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Argentina, Peru and Chile). The mean empathy reached 108.53 points (SD= 15.05), with women showing greater empathy than men (p<0.001). The reliability of the global scale was adequate: Cronbach's α= 0.81 and McDonald's ω= 0.87. The confirmatory factor analysis validates the three-factor model of empathy (χ²/df= 1089.28, CFI= 0.96, TLI= 0.95, RMSEA= 0.05). Cut-off scores were calculated to establish levels of empathy and a regional standard was constructed to assess student scores. It is concluded that the scale is valid and a reliable measure to assess empathy in Latin American dental students, with adequate discrimination power and gender invariance.