Empathy and Resilience in the training of Health Science Students

Abstract

The complex relationship between empathy and resilience in the training of health professionals is analyzed. Empathic development results from genetic and ontogenetic factors. Studies in twins reveal that emotional empathy is more hereditary (48.3%) than cognitive (26.9%), suggesting that environmental factors significantly influence the development of the cognitive (70%) versus emotional (50%) component. Resilience emerges as a protective factor of "achieved empathy", understood as the empathy accumulated during the ontogenetic process. It is conceptualized in three dimensions: ecological (resistance to turbulence), engineering (resilience) and adaptation (functional adjustment to negative events). The interaction between both constructs is crucial: resilience does not increase or decrease empathy, but rather prevents its inhibition in the face of adverse events. For health sciences students, this means protection from stressors such as curricular overload, economic pressures, or inadequate academic environments. It is concluded that universities have a limited window to develop emotional empathy but a greater opportunity to strengthen the cognitive component, emphasizing the need for empathic diagnoses prior to any formative intervention. Educational institutions should consider prior empathic diagnoses and differentiated strategies to strengthen both resilience and the cognitive components of empathy in their health sciences students.

Keywords: Empathy: Resilience: Health occupations students.