The Effect of an Empathy Education Program on Nursing Students' Empathy Ability, Interpersonal Ability, and Caring

Abstract

Purpose: This study aimed to develop and evaluate the effects of an empathy education program for undergraduate nursing students. Methods: The study employed a non-equivalent control group pretest-posttest design. A total of 46 nursing students were voluntarily recruited by convenience sampling from senior nursing students from the nursing department of K college in I city, Korea. Participants were divided into two groups, an experimental group of 23 and a control group of 23. The experimental intervention (empathy education program) was conducted from April 19 to May 6, 2016 and consisted of 150-minute sessions, twice a week, for 3 weeks for a total of 15 hours. Results: Participants demonstrated improvements in perspective taking in cognitive empathy, improved empathic concern in emotional empathy, and improved communicative empathy. Analysis of reflective writings identified four theme clusters regarding communicative empathy: improvement of empathic expression, experiencing comfort and healing, improvement of interpersonal relationships, and experience of conflict resolution. Improved interpersonal ability and caring were also identified. Conclusion: The empathy education program improved cognitive, emotional and communicative empathy, and interpersonal skills and care, which are all necessary qualities for nurses.

Effects of a Nonviolent Communication-Based Empathy Education Program for Nursing Students: A Quasi-Experimental Pilot Study

“…This study showed that interpersonal relationships were improved in the experimental group receiving the NVC-based empathy education compared to the control group. This result is similar to the results of studies [ 18 , 28 ] using an empathy program in nursing students who have reported that interpersonal relationships and prosocial behaviors in nursing students were improved. Marlow et al [ 16 ] reported that, because of using an NVC intervention in parolees admitted to a facility for substance abuse treatment, the ability to listen to others and interpersonal relationships were improved in parolees, which supports the results of this study.…”

“…This study demonstrated that the experimental group receiving the NVC-based empathy education had improved empathic ability compared to the control group. This result is similar to the results of a study by Jeong and Kim [ 28 ], reporting that an empathy education program for nursing students resulted in an improvement in taking the perspectives of other persons. In this study, the participants were educated to improve cognitive and emotional empathy involving the components of empathy from “empathic attention” to the “cycle of empathy.” In addition, repeated training and practice of paying attention to others’ situations and stories, as emphasized in NVC contents, and exploring the feelings and desires of oneself and others helped to improve empathy.…”

Factors Influencing Patient-Centeredness among Korean Nursing Students: Empathy and Communication Self-Efficacy

“…According to Rogers [39], empathy is not simply a communication skill but the basic attitude of empathizing. Furthermore, one needs to be equipped with the ability to understand others' perspectives or stance in order to have an empathetic interest in others beyond oneself, and such ability can be acquired through education [40]. Empathy is typically seen as a multidimensional construct that includes cognitive and affective components [22].…”

Effects of nursing students’ ability to empathize, recognize children’s rights, and perceive child abuse on their intention to report child abuse

“…특히, 학대받는 아동을 옹호하는 역할을 수행하 기 위해서는 대상자의 편에서 상황을 이해하고자 노력하는 공감 능력이 중요하다 [6]. 공감능력은 예비 간호사인 간호대학생의 역 량 강화를 위해 중요하게 다루어지는 간호교육 콘텐츠이며 [9], 최 근 아동학대 예비 신고의무자인 예비 유아교사를 대상으로 한 연 구에서도 공감능력과 신고의도와의 개연성이 시사된 바가 있다…”