The Effect of Empathy Training on the Empathic Skills of Nurses

Abstract

BackgroundThe profound impact of empathy training on quality nursing care has been recognized. Studies have shown that there has been little improvement in nurses’ communication skills, and that they should work to enhance this area. Relevant training will lead to an improvement in nurses’ empathic skills, which in turn, will enable them to understand their patients better, establish positive interpersonal relationships with them, and boost their professional satisfaction.ObjectivesTo reveal the effect of empathy training on the empathic skills of nurses.Patients and MethodsThis study was conducted as an experimental design. The research sample consisted of 48 nurses working at the pediatric clinics of Farabi hospital of Karadeniz Technical University in Turkey (N = 83). Two groups, an experimental group (group 1) and a control group (group 2) were determined after questionnaires were supplied to all nurses in the study sample. At first, it was intended to select these groups using a random method. However, since this may have meant that the experimental and control groups were formed from nurses working in the same service, the two groups were selected from different services to avoid possible interaction between them. The nurses in the Group 1 were provided with empathy training through group and creative drama techniques. Pre-tests and post-tests were conducted on both groups. Data was collected via a questionnaire designed around the topic “empathic skill scale-ESS”, developed by Dokmen. The Kolmogorov Smirnov test was employed to assess whether the measurable data was suitable for normal distribution. Data was presented as numbers and percentage distributions, as mean ± standard deviation and Chi-square, and as student t tests and paired t tests. The level of significance was accepted as P < 0.05.ResultsThe nurses in the experimental group had a mean score of 146.7 ± 38.8 and 169.5 ± 22.1 in the ESS pre-test and post-test, respectively. Although the nurses in the control group had a pre-test mean score of 133.7 ± 37.1, which increased to 135.1 ± 51.7 after the training, no statistically significant difference was found (P = 0.886). A comparison of the groups indicated that they scored similarly in the pre-test. However, the experimental group scored significantly higher than the control group in the post-test (P = 0.270 and P = 0.015, respectively).ConclusionsIn the light of these findings, it is recommended that communication skills should be widely included in in-service training programs; similar studies should be conducted on broader control groups formed through randomization; and a comparison should be made between the findings.

Perception of ethical issues by students of health professions

“…Empathy is considered as an essential prerequisite for a nurse to effectively care for a patient and for a holistic understanding of a patient's perspective in a student population [5]. Authors of the study titled "The Effect of Empathy Training of the Empathic Skills of Nurses" stated that profound impact of empathy training on quality of nursing care has been recognized and relevant training will lead to an improvement in nurses' empathic skills, which in turn, will enable them to understand their patients better, establish positive interpersonal relationships with them, and boost their professional satisfaction, but when they held an experiment with training, after the training, no statistically significant difference was found (p = 0.886) [6]. In our experiment, which was similar we get results showing statistical significance at the level p = 0.01 after successful completion of the course of Professional Ethics (p = 0.008), Law and Legislation in Health Care (p = 0.003) and psychology (p = 0.007).…”

An evaluation of empathic tendencies of dietitians working in Ankara

“…In general, studies show an increased empathic thinking and empathic skills as a result of higher levels of education and experience . For example, in a study conducted on nurses, empathic skills were determined to increase according to the education level of nurses . A study of nurses who provided child care services found a significant relationship between the level of education and empathy skills .…”

“…31 For example, in a study conducted on nurses, empathic skills were determined to increase according to the education level of nurses. 32 A study of nurses who provided child care services found a significant relationship between the level of education and empathy skills. 33 Also, a significant increase in the empathic tendency scores was observed with an increase in the level of education in a study conducted on teachers with graduate and master's degree.…”

The Effect of Creative Drama on Empathic Tendencies, Communication Skills and Critical Thinking of Physiotherapy Students

“…In the literature, it is stated that creative drama is effective in the development of social skills (Sullivan and Fulton, 2003). Kahriman et al (2016) stated that drama based activities affected the empathic tendencies of nurses. However, there are no studies which investigated empathic tendencies, communication skills of critical thinking of physiotherapy students and the effects of creative drama on these.…”