RESUMEN
INTRODUCTION: Empathy levels of health practitioners are related to patient satisfaction and treatment outcomes. The Toronto Composite Empathy Scale (TCES) was recently developed to assess cognitive and emotional empathy levels in both professional and personal spheres, and tested in an English-speaking sample of dental students. The aim of this study was to examine the psychometrics of the Greek version of the TCES. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The TCES was translated into Greek and administered to all of the dental students at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. A random subset of students completed the questionnaire twice for test-retest analysis. RESULTS: Nearly all (96.5%) of the students completed the questionnaire. The internal consistencies of each of the four subscales were generally acceptable (Cronbach's alphas: 0.676-0.805), and the scale showed good discriminant and convergent validities (r's for discriminant validity: 0.217 and 0.103; r's for convergent validity: 0.595 and 0.700). Test-retest reliabilities ranged from 0.478 to 0.779. After eliminating items that fell on both cognitive and emotional factors, a rotated factor analysis indicated that the items loaded on two cognitive and three emotional factors. DISCUSSION: Our results indicate that the Greek version of the TCES has good psychometric properties. The factor analysis indicates that the emotional and cognitive aspects of empathy are distinct, supporting the need to address both aspects in studies of empathy. CONCLUSIONS: The Greek version of the TCES is a reliable and valid tool for the measurement of cognitive and emotional empathy, in both professional and personal life, in Greek dental students.
Asunto(s)
Empatía , Psicometría , Estudiantes de Odontología/psicología , Encuestas y Cuestionarios/normas , Adolescente , Adulto , Relaciones Dentista-Paciente , Femenino , Grecia , Humanos , Masculino , Persona de Mediana Edad , Reproducibilidad de los ResultadosRESUMEN
BACKGROUND: The clinical success of large class II resin-modified glass-ionomer cement/composite resin (RMGIC/CR) 'open-sandwich' restorations in permanent or primary molars may be influenced by certain bonding parameters. AIM: To examine in vitro the effect of placing/curing mode on the RMGIC/CR bond strength. DESIGN: Two restoratives, a CR (Z250), a RMGIC (Vitremer) and a bonding agent (Adper Single Bond 2), all of 3M ESPE, were used for preparing five groups of seven specimen sticks each. The bond between the two restorative materials at the stick centre was created in the three test groups by: (A) 1-step placing RMGIC in contact with CR, then photocuring; (B) 2-step RMGIC placing/curing, then CR placement/curing; (C) 3-step RMGIC placing/curing, bonding agent placing/curing, CR placing/curing. Control groups consisted of sticks made of CR alone (D, positive) and RMGIC alone (E, negative). The specimens were subjected to tensile stress measurements in an Instron dynamometer and examined by scanning electron microscope for type of failure. STATISTICS: Tensile bond strength, tensile strain and elastic modulus differences were examined with one-way ANOVA and Tukey test. RESULTS: Among experimental groups, Group C exhibited significantly higher tensile strength (MPa) means (A = 12.11 ± 4.72, B = 15.69 ± 5.18, C = 19.08 ± 4.05) and significantly higher tensile strain (%) means (A = 0.50 ± 0.11, B = 0.64 ± 0.19, C = 0.98 ± 0.24), compared to Group A, at p = 0.05. Group D had significantly higher tensile strength and strain than all other groups. No statistically significant differences were observed in the elastic modulus. The use of bonding agent (Group C) resulted in absence of adhesive failures as seen by SEM. CONCLUSION: The use of bonding agent improved the CR/RMGIC bond by tensile strength and strain tests.