Empathy and Person-Centered Care from the perspective of undergraduate Speech-Language Pathology students.
Giovana Fochezato Veloso, Tatiane Franciele de Almeida, Vanessa Luisa Destro Fidêncio
PMID 41036894WHAT IT FOUND
Speech therapy students who scored higher in empathy, specifically in tolerating others' views and altruism, also preferred a patient-centered care style.
This links self-reported empathic traits to a preference for shared decision-making and focusing on the person's feelings.
Key findings
01Students reported higher scores in the 'caring' dimension of patient-centered care and in the 'affective sensitivity' factor of empathy, but lower scores in 'interpersonal flexibility'.
02Total empathy scores correlated positively with total patient-centered care preference scores.
03Specific empathy traits of interpersonal flexibility and altruism correlated positively with the 'caring' dimension of patient-centered care, suggesting these traits underpin the preference for addressing patients' emotions.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The sample was very small (40 participants) and not representative of all Brazilian universities or regions. The study used a cross-sectional design, so it cannot show how empathy or care preferences change over time during the degree. Empathy was measured by self-report, which does not necessarily reflect how students behave in actual clinical practice. The sample consisted mostly of students in their later years, limiting the ability to compare empathy levels across different stages of training.
Declared interests
The authors did not report any conflicts of interest or specific funding sources in the provided text.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume these self-reported empathy scores reflect actual clinical behavior or that the findings apply to all speech therapy students, as the sample was small, non-representative, and relied on self-assessment.
Summarised by AI from the full paper, without a clinician reviewing it. Check it against the source before it changes what you do. Read it on PubMed →