Browsing by Author "Varuna Kolkijkovin"

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    Can transformative learning improve empathy in fourth-year medical students?
    (Mahidol University, 2021) Chayut Wonglertwisawakorn; Cherdsak Iramaneerat; Yodying Dangprapai; Varuna Kolkijkovin
    Empathy is an essential skill in a physician; however, empathy levels often decline across the medical curriculum. This research explored the effectiveness of a unique transformative learning workshop to increase empathy levels in fourth-year medical students. The research questions were: 1) Does the empathy level of medical students improve after participating in the transformative learning workshop? 2) Is the empathy level of medical students in the group that participates in the transformative learning workshop significantly higher than those in the group that does not? and 3) Is the improvement in empathy level in the intervention group sustained for at least one month? Voluntary participants consisted of 74 fourth-year medical students from the Faculty of Medicine, Vajira Hospital, with 37 students in each group. The control group received standard workshops, while the intervention group received both standard and transformative learning workshops. The instrument for empathy measurement was the Jefferson Scale of Empathy (JSE) Student Version. Data were collected three times: before the intervention, immediately after the intervention, and one month later. Results showed no significant differences regarding gender or grade point average between the two groups, and pretest JSE scores did not significantly differ. After the transformative workshop, the immediate posttest JSE scores were significantly higher than the pretest scores in the intervention group (t(35) = 2.59, p = 0.014). The mean difference between immediate posttest and pretest JSE scores was significantly higher in the intervention group than in the control group (t(68) = 3.37, p = 0.001). Furthermore, there was no significant difference between the immediate posttest and delayed posttest JSE scores in the intervention group (t(35) = 0.49, p = 0.63). In conclusion, the transformative learning workshop significantly enhanced empathy and appeared to sustain that increase for at least one month in fourth-year medical students. Implication of Thesis: The pattern and sequence of this transformative learning workshop can be applied to increase empathy for medical and other healthcare professional students; additionally, this conceptual framework of transformative learning can be redesigned for improving other non-technical skills necessary for healthcare providers.