Perceptions of Empathy in the Classroom Among Educators in Higher Education and Healthcare Disciplines: A Qualitative Study.

Empathy is an important human response and contributes to effective interpersonal relationships. Empathy found in the classroom, specifically demonstrated by faculty in higher education, may impact student performance and outcomes. This qualitative study investigated how instructors (defined in this study as any faculty rank) in healthcare disciplines and higher education define and demonstrate empathy in the classroom. In addition, this study explored instructors' self-perceived empathy and factors that impact their empathy development. A purposive sample of instructors across four universities in undergraduate and graduate academic programs and from various healthcare professions, including nutrition and dietetics, nursing, physical therapy, and physician assistant programs, were invited to participate. Twenty-nine semi-structured virtual interviews were conducted, each lasting about 1 hour. Thematic analysis was completed using the interview data and NVivo v20 software. Three major themes were identified: 1) empathy is multidimensional, 2) empathy can be demonstrated in multiple ways, and 3) self-perceived levels of empathy evolve and are influenced by personal experiences. Subthemes were identified regarding how empathy was defined and demonstrated. Future research should include the development of a self-administered tool to measure self-perceived empathy in higher education and investigate empathy and student outcomes.