The Development Of The Chinese Version Of The Jefferson Scale Of Empathy And Investigation For Empathy Of Nurses

ObjectiveTo develop the Chinese version of the Jefferson Scale of Empathy and test the reliability and validity. To explore the feasibility of using the Jefferson Scale of Empathy in Chinese nurses. By assessing the level of empathy of nurses and analyzing the factors,to give evidence for the continuing education project of nurses and the evaluation and reform of nursing education,so as to promote the empathy of nurses and cultivate well-qualified nursing personnel.MethodFirst of all ,to get the authorization of Mohammadreza Hojat ,who is the developer of the scale,for adaptting the Jefferson Scale of Empathy (JSE) into Chinese version .The JSE was translated into Chinese by the researcher. Then two experts who is fluent in the English made some advice for the Chinese translation. The researcher formed a draft of the scale according to the opinions of the experts .Another two nursing experts who is skilled in English and not familiar with the instrument translated the draft of the scale into the original language. This second translation would be compared with the original version of the scale .The item would not be modified until the consistent rate was more than 70% in order to make sure the Chinese draft of the scale to be close to the original meaning. The final version of scale was formed afte cross-cultural adaption , expert consultation and pilot study.300 nurses in the 1st and Shengjing affiliated hospital of China Medical University were selected by random sampling to answer the questionnaire. All quantiative data of questionnaire survey was analyzed by SPSS13.0 for testing its reliability and validity of the scale and analyzing the factors that influencing the level of empathy of nurses. Results1,The Reliability and Validity of the Chinese version of JSPE(1) Reliability of the scaleWe tested the internal consistency including Cronbach's Alpha coefficient and the split-scale reliability coefficient. Cronbach's Alpha coefficient of the overall scale was 0.797 ; the split-scale reliability coefficient of the whole scale was 0.788. We concluded the internal consistency reliability was satisfying .(2) Validity of the scaleThe items could express the content of empathy of nurses accurately through strictly translation, back-translation, cross-cultural adaption and expert consultation .The content validity ratio(CVR) for the overall scale was between 0.2～1 . The result of factor analysis was also good. With the method of principle components, 3factors were extracted on the standard that eigenvalues was over 1 and the cumulative variance was 41.335%.Loading for each factor was over 0.4. The result indicated that the structure of the scale was similar to the original scale .2,The current status and factor analysis of empathy of nurses.(1)The current status of nursing empathyIn this research ,the minimum score of the points of the scale was 62.00,the maximum score was 132.00.The mean was105.9379,and the standard deviation was 12.43626.The distribution of the score is close to the normal.The differentia makedness of the scale was compares by variance analysis method between different group. The result showed:The empathy level of nurses who studied the relevant courses was higher than who did not study such courses.The empathy levels of nurses who felt satisfied with the career was higher than who felt unsatisfied with the career. The empathy levels of nurses whose evaluation of working evironment was "very good" was highest, followed by the evaluation was "good" and "general". The empathy level of nurses whose evaluation of working environment was "poor" was lowest.(2) Factor analysis of nursing empathyTo analyse the infuencing factors of the empathy level of nursing staff with multiple linear regression .The results showed:the empathy level of nursing staff was mainly influenced with whether the nursing staff had studied with the empathy-related courses and the subjective evaluation of their working environment.ConclusionsThe Chinese version of JSPE-HP in this study showed good reliability and validity and was an appropriate measure instrument that can be used to assessing the empathy of nurses.In this research ,the minimum score of the points of the scale was 62.00,the maximum score was 132.00.The mean was105.9379, and the standard deviation was 12.43626.The distribution of the score is close to the normal.The empathy level of nursing staff was mainly influenced with whether the nursing staff had studied with the empathy-related course and the subjective evaluation of their working environment.