Kafkas Üniversitesi Veteriner Fakültesi Dergisi
2023 , Vol 29 , Sayı 6
Social Problem-Solving Skills and Empathy Levels of Veterinary Clinicians in Türkiye
1Fırat University, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Department of Veterinary History and Deontology, TR-23119 Elazığ - TÜRKİYE
DOI :
10.9775/kvfd.2023.30271
This study aimed to investigate the impact of the social problem-solving skills and
empathy capacity of veterinary clinicians on their professional practice and to identify
the major influential factors involved. For this purpose, 454 veterinary clinicians were
enrolled in an online survey. Data was collected by applying a personal information sheet,
the Social Problem Solving Inventory-Revised scale, and the Basic Empathy Scale. There
was a negative correlation between clinicians" social problem-solving skills and general
empathy capacity (P<0.001; r=-0.153) and emotional empathy capacity (P<0.001; r=-0,
255); a positive correlation between social problem-solving skills and cognitive empathy
capacity (P<0.01; r=0.131). The study results showed that female had a greater capacity
for empathy (P<0.05). It was determined that the participants" general empathy capacity
(P<0.05; r=-0.098) and emotional empathy capacity (P<0.05; r=-0.102) decreased with
a longer career as a veterinary clinician. The question "If you had the chance to choose,
would you opt again for being a veterinarian?" was responded to with a "no" by clinicians
with high emotional empathy (P<0.01) and with a "yes" by clinician with high social
problem-solving skills (P<0.05) As a result, it could be speculated that activities such as
veterinary faculty curriculum development or in-service courses on the improvement
of cognitive empathy capacity would contribute to enhancing the performance of
veterinary clinicians in dealing with problems.
Anahtar Kelimeler :
Cognitive empathy, Emotional empathy, Social problem solving, Türkiye, Veterinarians