##submission.abstract##
The aim of this study is to determine the factors affecting the level of compassion and
the compassion levels of professionals candidates. The population of this study
consisted of 1382 students from Nutrition and Dietetics, Child Development,
Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation, Nursing and Health Management. “Demographic
Information Form” which was developed by researchers in the literature and
Compassion Scale developed by Pommier (2011) and also adapted to Turkish by
Akdeniz and Deniz (2016) which able to measure compassion towards others was used
as a data collection tool. In the study, 34.7% of the professional health candidates were
in the Nutrition and Dietetics Department, 33% were 20 years old and 78.7% were
women. The mean score of the Compassion Scale of all students was 4.22 ± 0.24. There
was a statistically significant difference (p <.05) between the scores of the first grade to
the last grade. A statistically significant difference was found in terms of indifference,
seperation, mindfulness, disengagement sub-dimensions and general compassion scale
scores. It was determined that compassion levels of health professionals candidates
differed in terms of gender, class and income status. In light of the findings obtained, it
can be explained in the lessons as a subject of compassion for the awareness of the
emotions that will affect the feelings of compassion of the students of the health sciences
faculty who will be health professionals of the future.
Keywords: Compassion; Health Professionals; Compassionate Health Care