A Study on Empathy of Korean Nursing College Students

Abstract

Background/Objectives: This study was attempted to confirm the relationship between nursing student ‘s self -awareness, others-awareness, schema for persons with disabilities, and empathy. The study subjects were 280 nursing students.
Method/Statistical Analysis: To investigate the relationship between the main variables, correlation and regression analysis were used the SPSS/PC. 19 program.
Findings: The results showed that there was a significant correlation between the self-awareness, the schema for the disabled, other-awareness and empathy of the nursing students. Hierarchical regression analysis was performed to confirm the influence of major variables affecting empathy ability. Results: Self-awareness, schema for the disabled, and other-awareness variables were influenced by the explanatory power 13.7% of nursing student’s empathy (F=15.764, p=.000). These results are interpreted as the higher the self-awareness, the higher the others-awareness, the more positive the schema for the disabled, the higher the empathy ability of nursing college students.
Improvements/Applications: Therefore, education methods and strategies are needed to increase self-awareness, other-awareness, and positive schema formation for the disabled to improve empathy of nursing students.