Diagnosis of Empathic Abilities of Medical Students

Abstract

The authors of the article focus on empathy as one of the dispositions related to the emotional functioning
in the process of communication, which plays an important role in determining success in a profession. It
is believed that people with higher empathy tend to solve professional, personal problems more readily in
subject-subject relationships. The technique for diagnosing the empathic abilities of medical students was
based on a questionnaire developed by V.V. Boyko. Methods of analytical and synthetic study of scientific and
methodological literature, questioning are applied. For empirical data percent distribution and ranking are
used. As a result of the study, the following levels of empathic abilities in medical students were evaluated:
rational, intuitive, attitudes, penetration, identification. The authors of the article came to the conclusion
that the empathic abilities of medical students are important and influential factors of communication not
only in the doctor-patient model, but also in their interpersonal communication, academic performance in
educational activities.