Characteristics of emotional intelligence and empathic abilities in medical students

Abstract

Introduction. The article presents the results of a study, whose purpose was to investigate emotional intelligence and empathic abilities as well as to identify correlations between these indicators in 3rd year medical school students. The relevance of the work is determined by the fact that both empathy and emotional intelligence play an important role in the formation of the professional competencies of future doctors. Materials and Methods. The study was based around a survey of 92 students of the Sechenov University. Data gathering was carried out using the Assessment of the Level of Empathic Abilities by V.V. Boiko and The Emotional Intelligence Test by N. Hall. The relationship between emotional intelligence and empathic abilities was studied. Data were analysed using STATISTICA 8.0. Results. The majority of the participants were found to have both an understated and a very low level of empathic capability. The least developed were the intuitive, rational and emotional components, while the most developed was the “installations that promote empathy” component. The majority of the participants had a low level of emotional intelligence in Hall's terms, with the worst developed parameters seen to be “managing your emotions” and “self-motivation”. The most developed parameter was “emotional awareness”. The results showed an average positive correlation between Hall's empathy and the total indicator of empathic abilities (r = 0.37, p < 0.01), the intuitive channel (r = 0.32, p < 0.01), the “empathy facilities” (r = 0.31, p < 0.01) and the “empathy identification” (r = 0.26, p = 0.01), as well as between “recognition other people's emotions” and the total indicator of empathic abilities (r = 0.28, p < 0.05). The study found an average negative correlation between the “managing your emotions” and the “emotional channel” (r = -0.41, p < 0.001), the “rational channel” (r = -0.31, p = 0.003), the total indicator of empathic abilities (r = -0.28, p < 0.05). Discussion and Conclusion. Most of the participants have a low level of empathic abilities and emotional intelligence. The results of the study identify the need to develop empathic abilities and emotional intelligence in medical students with a focus on intuitive, rational and emotional channels of empathy, as well as “managing your emotions” and “self-motivation”, in order to train communicative professional competencies during the course of higher education.