Soft skills and potential covariates in first year health science students in Latin America: a cross-sectional study

Díaz-Narváez V.P.; Reyes-Reyes F.; Reyes-Reyes A.; Rod J.E.; Gamarra-Moncayo J.; Bustos O.E.H.; Gelvez A.I.L. · Frontiers in Psychology (2026) · DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2026.1845073

Resumen

Background – Latin American health education institutions traditionally prioritize technical skills over “soft” psychosocial competencies. However, empathy and resilience are vital for quality clinical care. This study aimed to explore the psychometric properties, gender differences, and correlations between soft skills (empathy, resilience) and psychosocial covariates (affect, family functioning, satisfaction with life) in first-year students. Methods – A quantitative, cross-sectional study was conducted with a convenience sample of 896 first-year students (59% female, 41% male) from Dentistry, Kinesiology, and Nursing programs at three universities in Chile. Participants completed five validated instruments: JSE-HPS (Empathy), EEA (Resilience), PANAS (positive and negative affect), FACES-20 (Family Functioning), and SWLS (Satisfaction with Life). Data were analyzed using Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) and Pearson correlations. Results – CFA confirmed adequate structural validity and reliability for most scales, though gender invariance was only strictly met for affect and family functioning. Significant gender differences were observed: men scored higher in compassionate care, positive affect, and engineering/adaptive resilience, while women scored higher in perspective taking and negative affect. Resilience showed moderate positive correlations with positive affect (r = 0.401) and satisfaction with life (r = 0.368). Overall, students scored in the mean range, suggesting a developmental deficit in these competencies upon university entry. Conclusion – The study provides a psychometric foundation for assessing soft skills in Latin American health students. The results highlight the need for early risk gender and sub dimensions adjusted profiling to identify students more susceptible of soft skill decline during training. Furthermore, further research is needed to develop training interventions to improve soft skills during academic years. Copyright

Instituciones: Universidad Católica Santo Toribio de Mogrovejo