Efficacy of empathy training in nursing students: A quasi-experimental study

Background Empathy is a competency to be learned by nurses and a therapeutic tool in the helping relationship that has repercussions on the health of both patients and professionals. Objectives: To determine the efficacy of an experiential training for improving the empathy of nursing students in terms of capacity building, empathic performance and increased learning perception and retention of the material. Design: A quasi-experimental study of a single group with pretest-posttest measurements of the educational intervention and follow-up at one month after the training. Settings: Faculty of Nursing, University of Cadiz, Spain. Participants: Forty-eight second-year undergraduate university nursing students. Methods: The educational intervention was conducted during a single semester, with 20 h of training. The methodology of role-playing, behavior assay, and a flipped classroom was followed. Measurements of student performance were collected before and after the intervention. The Reynolds Empathy Scale was used to evaluate the student's perception of his/her performance; The Consultation and Relational Empathy Measure was used to evaluate the patient's perception of the student's behavior during the simulation; and three independent external observers assessed the student's behavior, guided by The Carkhuff Scale. Descriptive analysis and non-parametric contrast tests were performed to compare the scores before and after the training (Mann-Whitney U and Wilcoxon rank-sum). Spearman's correlation coefficient was used for the correlation between the measurements. Results: The mean scores improved for all of the variables, with the differences being statistically significant. The students assessed their learning positively. Conclusions: The training was shown to be effective for improving the empathy of the university students in the study. The results are promising in terms of the students retaining the competencies adquired. Therefore, this type of experiential training is recommended for empathy training of future health professionals.