Journal of medical education
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This study compares the level of empathy of medical students with the levels of empathy among other university students. It also explores the impact of the psychiatric clerkship with group experience on the medical students' empathy for and attitudes toward mental patients as compared with the level of attitudes and empathy of medical students without group experience. ⋯ An additional goal of the study was to test the impact of medical students' psychiatric clerkships on the relationship between the level of self-reported empathy and the level of empathy as judged by their peer group. It was found that these separate vantage points merged as a consequence of group participation.