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Rising to the challenge: cross-cultural adaptation and psychometric evaluation of the adapted German version of the Jefferson Scale of Physician Empathy for Students (JSPE-S)

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Abstract

Assessment of students’ attitudes towards physicians’ empathy is essential in medical education and in practice because empathy is vital in physician-patient communication. To cross-culturally adapt the Jefferson Scale of Physician Empathy (S-version, JSPE-S) into a German version, examine its psychometric properties in comparison to the original US version (psychometric equivalence), and to compare the level of attitude towards empathy to the original US version and to other cultural adaptations. The German version was administered to the 2010 2nd year medical students cohort at the Medical University of Vienna, Austria (n = 516). Item-total score correlations were all positive. Reliability was high (Cronbach’s alpha = .82); a 6–7 weeks test–retest correlation for a subsample was .45. In an explanatory factor analysis, a four-factor solution emerged and is akin to published results of the original JSPE-S. This study provides an example of successful cross-cultural adaptation of an assessment instrument. The German adaptation of the JSPE at hand will pave the way for future international research regarding the concept of empathy and its outcomes.

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Notes

  1. At the time of preparing this study, no formal framework for ethical approval on studies with educational background existed at our institution. Ethical considerations and approvals were made by persons not directly involved in preparing this manuscript. Individuals were not identifiable; no plausible harm arose from publication.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Michael Schmidts for enabling the data acquisition; Ulrike Leiss, Renate Dosanj, and Alexander Gaiger for reviewing and refining the translation and back translation of the Jefferson Scale of Physician Empathy; and Mohammedreza Hojat for his support during the translation and adaptation process and the critical review of a first version of this paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medical Education (DEMAW), Medical University of Vienna (MUV), Spitalgasse 23, BT87, 1097, Vienna, Austria

    Ingrid Preusche & Michaela Wagner-Menghin

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  1. Ingrid Preusche
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  2. Michaela Wagner-Menghin
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Correspondence to Ingrid Preusche.

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Preusche, I., Wagner-Menghin, M. Rising to the challenge: cross-cultural adaptation and psychometric evaluation of the adapted German version of the Jefferson Scale of Physician Empathy for Students (JSPE-S). Adv in Health Sci Educ 18, 573–587 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10459-012-9393-9

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