O impacto do contexto clínico na empatia de estudantes de psicologia

Abstract

This research aims to evaluate how the empathic responses of master students in Psychology evolve during the curricular internship. In this sense, in order to better understand this construct, the following variables are considered: the behavioral response during the administration of a protocol with ecological vignettes, the cardiac response to the same empathic vignettes, and the responses to a self-report instrument to assess empathy. In this study, a reduced version of the instrument of empathic vignettes with 14 vignettes was administered, six of those having positive emotional valence and eight negative emotional valence. In this study participated 31 students in the transition between the first and second years of master’s degree in Clinical Psychology. The data were collected in two moments: before and after the curricular internship. The data demonstrate that in this sample there was a decrease in heart rate during the visualization of the vignettes after the internship and, consequently, a decrease in the levels of empathic responses given to these same vignettes. Still, the students showed a perceived increased empathy after clinical practice.

Date of Award	12 Jul 2023
Original language	Portuguese
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Patrícia Oliveira-Silva (Supervisor)