Asano-Gonnella Center for Research in Medical Education & Health Care

This 20-item instrument was developed by Mohammadreza Hojat, PhD and his colleagues at the Asano-Gonnella Center for Research in Medical Education & Health Care to measure empathy in physicians and practicing health professionals (HP-version), medical students (S-version), and health professions students other than medical students (HPS-version).

The JSE has enjoyed broad national and international attention, has been translated into 59 languages and is being used by researchers and educators worldwide. A long list of over 525 publications by national and international researchers in which the JSE has been used (including 41 from our own research team) is an indication of broad attention of health professions researchers to this widely researched instrument.

A sample psychometric study:

Hojat, M. Gonnella, J.S., Nasca, T.J., Mangione, S., Vergare, M., & Magee, M. (2002). Physician empathy: Definition, measurement, and relationship to gender and specialty. American Journal of Psychiatry, 159, 1563-1569.

More information about the Jefferson Scale of Empathy©

This brief 5-item instrument was developed to measure patients perceptions of their physicians’ empathy. It has been translated into 16 languages (Arabic, Chinese, Danish, French, Finnish, German, Greek, Italian, Japanese, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Spanish, Tagalog and Turkish) and used by national and international researchers.

A sample psychometric study:

Hojat, M., Louis, D.Z., Maxwell, K., Markham, F., Wender, R., Gonnella, J.S. (2010). Patient perceptions of physician empathy, satisfaction with physician, interpersonal trust, and compliance. International Journal of Medical Education, 1, 83-88. DOI:10.5116/ijme.4d00.b701.

With funding from the National Board of Medical Examiners’ Edward J. Stemmler, MD Medical Education Research Fund, Dr. Hojat and colleagues at the Center developed the Jefferson Scale of Physician Lifelong Learning (JeffSPLL, 14 items) and investigated the predictors and outcomes of physicians' lifelong learning based on a national survey of 3,195 graduates of Jefferson (currently Sidney Kimmel) Medical College. Major psychometric findings were reported  in Academic Medicine (2009, 84, 1066-1074). The JeffSPLL was slightly modified by a group of medical education researchers at the Virginia Commonwealth University Medical College led by Drs. Paul Mazmanian and Angela Wetzel who worked with the Center to adapt the Jefferson Scale of Physician Lifelong Learning for administration to medical students (Academic Medicine, 2010 Supplement, 85, s41-s44). This scale has been translated into 5 languages (Chinese, Hebrew, Korean, Persian and Portuguese) by international researchers.

Our findings on Physician lifelong learning were also published in two book chapters. One appeared in the Handbook of Lifelong Learning Development (Edited by Margaret Caltone, Nova Science Publishers, 2010, Chapter 2, pp. 37-78), and the other was included in a monograph published in 2012 by NOVA Science Publishers entitled “Continuing Professional Development and Lifelong Learning: Issues, Impacts, and Outcomes” edited by Greg Neimeyer and Jennifer Taylor (Chapter 3, pp. 30-69).

A sample of psychometric study:

Hojat, M., Veloski, J. J. Gonnella, J.S. (2009). Measurement and correlates of physicians’ lifelong learning. Academic Medicine,84, 1066-1074.

This 15-item instrument was developed to measure attitudes or orientation toward physician-nurse collaboration. It has been translated into 15 languages (Arabic, Chinese, Croatian, Estonian, French, Greek, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Kurdish, Lithuanian, Persian, Spanish, Swedish and Turkish) by international researchers. A large number of studies has been published by national and international researchers in which this instrument was used.

A sample of psychometric study:

Ward. J,  Schaal, M., Sullivan, J., Bowen, M. E., Erdmann, J.B., & Hojat, M. (2008). The Jefferson Scale of Attitudes toward Physician-Nurse Collaboration: A study with undergraduate nursing students. Journal of Interprofessional Care, 22, 375-386.

This 16-item instrument was developed to measure attitudes or orientation toward physician-pharmacist collaborative relationships.

A sample of psychometric study:

Hojat, M., Gonnella, J.S. (2011).An instrument for measuring pharmacist and physician attitudes toward collaboration: Preliminary psychometric data. Journal of Interprofessional Care, 26, 66-72.

This 20-item instrument was developed to measure attitudes of health professions students and practitioners toward teamwork and collaboration in patient care, regardless of their academic fields and health professions areas of practice. This instrument has been translated into Brazilian, a consolidated Brazilian-Portuguese, German, Indonesian and Japanese languages.

A sample of psychometric study:

Hojat, M., Ward, J., Spandorfer J., Arenson, C., Van Winkle, L. J., & Williams, B. (2015). The Jefferson Scale of Attitudes Toward Interprofessional Collaboration (Jeff SATIC): Development and multi-institution psychometric data, Journal of Interprofessional Care, 29, 238-244.

This 10-item instrument was developed to measure patient’s overall satisfaction with primary care physicians. It has been translated into Persian language.

A sample of psychometric study:

Hojat, M., Louis D.Z., Maxwell, K., Markham, F., Wender, R., Gonnella, J.S. (2011). A brief instrument to measure patient’s overall satisfaction with primary care physicians.  Family Medicine, 43, 412-417.

Using data from the Nationwide Project in Osteopathic Medical Education and Empathy (POMEE), we developed a 13-item instrument to assess attitudes toward osteopathic medicine. Psychometric evidence in support of the validity and reliability of this instrument and a national norm table for new matriculants to osteopathic medical schools in the United States are reported in the following article:

Hojat, M., DeSantis, J., Cain, R.A., Speicher, M.R., Bragan, L., Shannon, S.C., Calabrese, L.H. (2021). Attitudes Toward Osteopathic Medicine Scale: Development and Psychometrics. International Journal of Medical Education, 12, 222-232. doi: 10.5116/ijme.615c.2cfa