The effect of clinical practice on empathy in BSU students and graduates of religiously related and nonreligiously related schools

The present study investigated the relationship between the effect of clinical practice on empathy in BSN students and graduates in religiously and nonreligiously related programs. The non-experimental survey used a non-probability, convenience sample including 156 student and graduate nurses from two BSN programs. The subjects completed the Empathy Construct Rating Scale, a self-administered questionnaire demonstrating a high degree of validity and reliability. The results indicated no statistically significant correlation between the length of practice and empathy among students, first year, and fourth year graduates. Also, no statistically significant difference existed between the empathy scores of students and graduates from a religiously related and a nonreligiously related school. The conclusions drawn from this study are that there is no relationship between empathy and length of practice, nor is empathy related to the religious orientation of the nursing program.Ball State UniversityMuncie, IN 47306Thesis (M.S.)--Ball State University, 1986