Cognitive and Affective Empathy of Doctor of Physical Therapy Students: A Modified Cross-Sectional Study

This study was performed to determine how cognitive and affective empathy changes as doctor of physical therapy (DPT) students go through training. Cognitive empathy was measured using the Jefferson Scale of Empathy, and affective empathy was measured using the Balanced Emotional Empathy Scale. Each survey instrument was given at the start and end of each of the 3 academic years. The cohorts consisted of first-, second-, and third-year DPT students. Cognitive empathy scores had a non-significant increase for each cohort, but the steady rise in cognitive empathy scores for each cohort suggested the students are becoming more comfortable communicating with patients to form an empathic bond of trust. Affective empathy scores significantly increased only for first-year students and indicate the students are more aware of their initial vicarious reaction to patients. Affective empathy scores stabilized for cohorts two and three with no significant changes. There needs to be an awareness about the possibility of future burnout associated with some students having too much affective empathy. DPT students with affective empathy scores ≥ 2.0 SD above the population norm need to be taught to partially blunt their affective response to not let their own internal emotional state decrease their ability to effectively treat the patient.