The effect of structured empathy education on empathy competency of undergraduate nursing interns: A quasi-experimental study.

Background: Empathy is a crucial element in fostering a positive relationship between nurses and patients. Recent research indicates that the degree of empathy in nursing students declines as they gain education or experience. A number of teaching strategies have been used to improve nursing students' empathy competence levels. However, little is currently known about how empathy is best taught or enhanced in senior nursing students in China.

Objectives: To implement a structured empathy educational program as developed from the Delphi technique, as well as to evaluate its effects on empathy competence among undergraduate nursing interns.

Design: This study is quasi-experimental, with two-group comparison.

Participants: Undergraduate nursing students in their fourth year (n = 118) were recruited from an affiliated teaching hospital in Wuhan, Central Part of China, between January 2018 and March 2018.

Methods: A convenience sample of 118 undergraduate nursing interns were recruited from a teaching hospital in Wuhan and assigned to either the intervention or the control group according to their preference. Participants in the intervention group had received a 2-week, 12-hour structured empathy-related educational program (two sessions per week, 3 h per session), whereas the control group received no intervention. The Jefferson Scale of Empathy-Health Providers (JSE-HPs) was used to assess students' empathy levels before and after the intervention.

Results: An independent samples t-test revealed that scores of empathy competence levels in the intervention group were significantly higher than those in the control group following the intervention. Three domains of empathy competence level were also significantly higher in the intervention group after the two weeks' training relative to the control group, namely: perspective taking, compassionate care, and standing in the patient's shoes.

Conclusions: This modified empathy educational program may prove beneficial in improving the empathy competence level of undergraduate nursing interns.