Introduction: Empathy is very important among healthcare professionals as it relates to
the very recognition and understanding of the emotions of others and has a positive impact
on the health outcomes of the patients treated. It is very important that nursing students
also master it and thus prepare for future employment. Purpose: The purpose of the
diploma thesis is to research and determine the level of empathy among nursing students,
as it is important that they are aware of its importance and actively develop it. Methods: A
quantitative method of data collection was used. Data were collected using the 1ka online
survey and processed using Excel and SPSS. The Jefferson Empathy Scale was used to
measure the level of empathy among nursing students at the Faculty of Health Sciences of
the University of Ljubljana. Minimum and maximum values mean values (mean value,
median and mode) and standard deviations were determined. We used the t-test, the
ANOVA test, and the Pearson correlation coefficient to determine statistically significant
differences between groups and the relationships between variables. Results: We found
that nursing students were empathetic, as the average level of empathy among students
showed a good level of empathy. Nothing can be said about the connection between
previous education, type and year of study and empathy. Demographic characteristics such
as gender and age were not associated with a higher degree of empathy among students, as
the differences were not statistically significant. Discussion and conclusion: Some studies
reported statistically significant differences in gender, age, year, but not all. The year of
study can affect the level of empathy, as third-year students generally have more
experience than first-year students. We found that nursing experience affects the value of
empathy, which has been confirmed by a few researchers. A comparable study was
conducted on nursing students at the Faculty of Health Angela Boškin. We also found that
there are comparable studies, the most similar of which was from Novak, who found that
the type of study and prior education do not affect the level of empathy, but women are
more empathetic than men.
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