Medical students’ preclinical service-learning experience and its effects on empathy in clinical training

BMC Medical Education

Table 4 Relationships of medical students’ preclinical SL experience with their empathy level in clinical clerkships: Generalised estimating equation modelling

Variables	Dimensions of Empathy
	Perspective taking			Compassionate care			Standing in patients’ shoes
	Estimates	SE	Sig	Estimates	SE	Sig	Estimates	SE	Sig
Intercept	−1.074	1.253	0.391	−1.880	1.176	0.110	1.375	1.215	0.258
Preclinical SL experience
CBST membership (default = no)	−0.054	0.272	0.843	−0.132	0.309	0.669	−0.065	0.248	0.792
CBST service intensity: total hours served^a	−0.019	0.013	0.161	0.031	0.012	0.012	−0.011	0.016	0.482
ECST membership (default = no)	0.041	0.247	0.868	0.492	0.253	0.052	0.162	0.233	0.487
ECST service intensity: total hours served^b	0.008	0.003	0.013	0.003	0.003	0.274	0.006	0.004	0.101
Perceived SL self-efficacy	0.247	0.137	0.071	−0.186	0.120	0.121	0.194	0.150	0.197
Demographic characteristics
SEX (default = male)	−0.095	0.194	0.625	−0.070	0.200	0.728	−0.191	0.181	0.290
AGE^c	−0.329	1.067	0.758	−1.826	1.098	0.096	1.737	1.082	0.109
Model fit	QIC = 1020.826 QICC = 252.786			QIC = 846.987 QICC = 246.639			QIC = 1123.132 QICC = 245.870

Note:
1. SL: service learning; CBST: curriculum-based service team; ECST: extracurricular service team
2. ^aCBST service intensity: total hours served was calculated by multiplying the number of service themes a student was engaged in by the average number of hours spent per CBST service theme. The original value of total hours engaged in CBST was transformed using the square root value to meet the assumption of normality
3. ^bECST service intensity: total hours served was calculated by multiplying the number of service themes a student engaged in by the average number of hours spent per ECST service theme. The original value of total hours engaged in ECST was transformed using square root value to meet the assumption of normality
4. ^cThe original AGE value was transformed using LN(LN(LG(X))) because of the violation of the normality assumption

ISSN: 1472-6920