Objective: Empathy skills and personal conflicts which may change over time by social, environmental and educational factors, are both important components for a succesful patient-physician relationship. We sought to investigate the empathy levels and conflict tendencies in medical students considering the phase of medical education
Method: One hundred and eighty six students were included from first, fourth and sixth year medical students. A sociodemographic data form, Emphatic Skills Scale-B-Form and Conflict Tendency Scale were administered to all participants.
Results: The mean scores of empathy skills did not differ across males and females. Passive antithetical conflict was higher in females, active conflict score was higher in year one students. A significant increase was found in empathy in last year. Total conflict tendency was higher in students who were not satisfied with their medical education. Existantial conflict was found to be decreased with increasing empathic skills.
Conclusion: There is a significant difference between year one and year six in medical students for active conflict tendency, and better empathy skills are present in year six students.
Key words: Conflict tendency, empathy, medical education, medical student
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