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Validation of the Romanian Version of the Toronto Empathy Questionnaire (TEQ) among Undergraduate Medical Students

Author

Listed:
  • Sorin Ursoniu

    (Department of Functional Sciences, Discipline of Public Health, Center for Translational Research and Systems Medicine, “Victor Babeș” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 300041 Timișoara, Romania)

  • Costela Lacrimioara Serban

    (Department of Functional Sciences, Discipline of Public Health, Center for Translational Research and Systems Medicine, “Victor Babeș” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 300041 Timișoara, Romania)

  • Catalina Giurgi-Oncu

    (Department of Neuroscience, Discipline of Psychiatry, Center for Cognitive Research in Neuropsychiatric Pathology (NeuroPsy-Cog), “Victor Babeș” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 300041 Timișoara, Romania)

  • Ioana Alexandra Rivis

    (Department of Neuroscience, “Carol Davila” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 020021 Bucharest, Romania)

  • Adina Bucur

    (Department of Functional Sciences, Discipline of Public Health, Center for Translational Research and Systems Medicine, “Victor Babeș” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 300041 Timișoara, Romania)

  • Ana-Cristina Bredicean

    (Department of Neuroscience, Discipline of Psychiatry, Center for Cognitive Research in Neuropsychiatric Pathology (NeuroPsy-Cog), “Victor Babeș” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 300041 Timișoara, Romania
    Psychiatry Compartment, “Dr. Victor Popescu” Emergency Military Clinical Hospital, 300080 Timișoara, Romania)

  • Ion Papava

    (Department of Neuroscience, Discipline of Psychiatry, Center for Cognitive Research in Neuropsychiatric Pathology (NeuroPsy-Cog), “Victor Babeș” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 300041 Timișoara, Romania)

Abstract

Medical professionals require adequate abilities to identify others’ emotions and express personal emotions. We aimed to determine the validity and reliability of an empathy measuring tool in medical students for this study. We employed Spreng’s Toronto Empathy Questionnaire (TEQ) as a starting point for this validation. The process was performed in several steps, including an English-Romanian-English translation and a focus group meeting to establish each question’s degree of understandability and usability, with minor improvements of wording in each step. We checked internal and external consistency in a pilot group ( n = 67). For construct and convergent validity, we used a sample of 649 students. The overall internal and external reliability performed well, with Cronbach’s alpha = 0.727 and respective ICC = 0.776. The principal component analysis resulted in 3 components: prosocial helping behavior, inappropriate sensitivity, dismissive attitude. Component 1 includes positively worded questions, and components 2 and 3 include negatively worded questions. Women had significantly higher scores than men in convergent validity, but we did not highlight any differences for other demographic factors. The Romanian version of the TEQ is a reliable and valid tool to measure empathy among undergraduate medical students that may be further used in subsequent research.

Suggested Citation

  • Sorin Ursoniu & Costela Lacrimioara Serban & Catalina Giurgi-Oncu & Ioana Alexandra Rivis & Adina Bucur & Ana-Cristina Bredicean & Ion Papava, 2021. "Validation of the Romanian Version of the Toronto Empathy Questionnaire (TEQ) among Undergraduate Medical Students," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(24), pages 1-15, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:24:p:12871-:d:696504
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Ong, L. M. L. & de Haes, J. C. J. M. & Hoos, A. M. & Lammes, F. B., 1995. "Doctor-patient communication: A review of the literature," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 40(7), pages 903-918, April.
    2. Lukas Novak & Klara Malinakova & Petr Mikoska & Jitse P. van Dijk & Filip Dechterenko & Radek Ptacek & Peter Tavel, 2021. "Psychometric Analysis of the Czech Version of the Toronto Empathy Questionnaire," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(10), pages 1-16, May.
    3. Justin A. Charles & Peder Ahnfeldt-Mollerup & Jens Søndergaard & Troels Kristensen, 2018. "Empathy Variation in General Practice: A Survey among General Practitioners in Denmark," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-15, March.
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