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J. Janssen1, C. Zenzmaier2, S.S. Yap1, P. Österreicher1, P. Simon1, C. Wenzel1, P. Kaufmann3, S. Perkhofer2, G. Tucek1
1IMC University of Applied Sciences Krems, Department of Health Sciences, Institute of Therapeutic Sciences, Krems an der Donau, Austria, 2Health University of Applied Sciences Tyrol, Innsbruck, Austria, 3pro mente Reha Neusiedlersee, Neusiedlersee, Austria
Background: Empathy is important in order to build a meaningful therapeutic relationship between the patient and the physiotherapist (Stephany, 2015). However, film sequences to evoke such a complex emotion have not yet been validated.
Purpose: This study explored if an empathetic film sequence (EFS) would evoke a more empathic response than a control film sequence (CFS) in health students.
Methods: Students of a local University of applied science were asked to participate. Participants in this randomised cross-over design study were assigned to one of two experimental conditions (EFS versus CFS) on day one. The EFS consisted of the freely available ‘removed’ (2013) film, the CFS consisted of a story of a walking holiday. The conditions were reversed on day two. Outcome measures were the Positive And Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) score and heart rate variability (HRV). In addition, the German version of the interpersonal reactivity index (IRI) was used to measure empathy levels. Wilcoxon signed rank test was used to detect significant differences in the PANAS and HRV, between CFS and EFS conditions. Spearman correlation coefficients were used to explore correlations between the outcome measures and IRI.
Results: Eighteen female participants (median age 23 years) participated in the study. Participants were significantly more positively affected by the CFS than the EFS (W=171, p<0.001), whereas they were significantly more negatively affected by the EFS than the CFS (W= 0, p< 0.001). The total empathy score was positively correlated with the negative affect of the PANAS (r=0.55, p=0.02) and nagetively correlated with the LF/HF ratio of the HRV (r=-0.52, p=0.027).
Conclusion(s): This study showed that the EFS was able to evoke an emotional response in young women, which was correlated to empathy. Verification of these results are needed with a larger, more representative sample, and the inclusion of validated outcome measures.
Implications: This empathic film sequence could be used to measure empathy levels in students and physiotherapists. Sequentially the film could be used to evaluate the effectiveness of empathy training in health professions.
Funding, acknowledgements: This study was funded under the project ‘Aspects of personalised music therapy in neurorehabilitation’ by the Josef Ressel Centre.
Keywords: Empathy, physiotherapy students
Topic: Education
Did this work require ethics approval? No
Institution: Office of the Federal Government of Lower Austria
Committee: Lower austria ethics committee
Reason: Our ethic committee informed us that projects with healthy volunteers did not need ethics
All authors, affiliations and abstracts have been published as submitted.
