A Longitudinal Study of Undergraduate Empathy and Attitudes to Specific Medical Conditions

Empathy is a vital characteristic for health professionals to possess. However, it is also a difficult personal trait to instil, teach, monitor, and assess. Student attitudes towards patients with specific medical conditions, eg acute mental illness, intellectual disability, is likewise a difficult attitude to instil and change.

This project is exploring the empathy levels among undergraduate students from the different health science disciplines at Monash Peninsula Campus, Clayton Campus, and Monash Medical Centre. The nature of the study has allowed for comparisons and differences between the health student discipline groups to be identified, along with differences in age group, gender and year of the course.

The findings are expected to inform curriculum development in each of the disciplines, as well as assist with identifying opportunities to develop interprofessional learning activities to facilitate the development of empathy in all students.

The publications and conference presentations can be found on each of the project members profile pages.

Project Members

• Dr Mal Boyle
• Mr Brett Williams
• A/Prof Lisa McKenna
• A/Prof Ted Brown
• Dr Claire Palermo
• Dr Liz Molloy
• Mr Michael Storr
• Mr Jonathan McConnell

Project Contact

Mal Boyle