The Relationship of Perceptions of Hospice and Palliative Care With Emotional Intelligence and Cognitive Empathy in Nursing Students

Abstract

This study aimed to identify the relationships of perception of hospice and palliative care with emotional intelligence and cognitive empathy in nursing students. The participants were 458 nursing students. Data were collected using structured questionnaires and analyzed with Pearson correlation coefficients, independent-samples t test, and binary logistic regression. Perception of hospice and palliative care was significantly and positively correlated with emotional intelligence (r = 0.224, P < .001) and cognitive empathy (r = 0.311, P < .001). Mean score differences of perception of hospice and palliative care by emotional intelligence and cognitive empathy were statistically significant (t = −3.973, P < .001; t = −4.109, P < .001, respectively). Logistic regression yielded an odds ratio of 1.860 (P < .001; 95% confidence interval, 1.283-2.698) between the perception of hospice and palliative care and emotional intelligence and an odds ratio of 2.028 (P < .001; 95% confidence interval, 1.394–2.951) between the perception of hospice and palliative care and cognitive empathy. Emotional intelligence and cognitive empathy should be cultivated to raise nursing students' perception of hospice and palliative care and must be included when developing related curricula and extracurricular programs.

Compassionate Engagement and Action in the Education for Health Care Professions: A Cross-Sectional Study at an Ecuadorian University

“…Exercising the Humanities makes the clinical setting value the history of suffering, meaning, and the need for the patient’s empathy and compassion [ 49 ]. This is the reason why we believe that it of utmost importance to cultivate a compassionate attitude in the Health Sciences student and to recover the true sense of service which humanizes the professional [ 11 , 13 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 ].…”

“…The importance of including educational contents related to compassionate care in the studies related to Health Sciences has been widely recommended in the literature [ 28 , 29 , 30 ]. Contents related to compassionate attitudes have helped to develop a reflexive practice, deal with the clinical challenges, and gain confidence in the health professionals, such as nurses [ 25 ].…”

A qualitative exploration of “empathic labor” in Chinese hospice nurses

“…However, based on previous studies, most focused on the imagination dimension of cognitive empathy, therefore, it is not enough to imagine the experience of dying patients, and hospice nurses should be cultivated to raise their occupational sensibility of patient-centered consideration and their perception of patients' unmet needs through empathy. Strategies include taking a target's perspective, reading facial expressions, developing related curricula training programs, and accessing memories of relevant previous situations [32,33].…”

A Qualitative Exploration of “Empathic Labor” in Chinese Hospice Nurses

“…Based on previous studies, most focused on the imagination dimension of cognitive empathy; however, it is not enough to imagine the experience of dying patients, and hospice nurses should be cultivated to raise their occupational sensibility of patient-centered consideration and their perception of patients' unmet needs through empathy. Strategies include taking a target's perspective, reading facial expressions, developing related curricula training programs, and accessing memories of relevant previous situations [19,20].…”