Effects of video-recorded role-play and guided reflection on nursing student empathy, caring behavior and competence: A two-group pretest-posttest study.

Aim: The study examined the differences in nursing student empathy, caring behavior and competence between the experimental and control groups before and after educational intervention and to predict the factors affecting their core competencies.

Background: Educating nursing students in empathy and caring behaviors before entering clinical practice is challenging.

Design: We used a two-group pretest and post-test quasi-experimental design.

Methods: First-year nursing students from medical schools in Taiwan participated in our study. Data were collected between March and May 2022. The learning method used with the intervention group was role-playing with videos and guided reflection. The control group was exposed to traditional curriculum. Empathy, caring behavior and competence were measured using the Jefferson Scale of Empathy- Healthcare Providers, the Caring Behaviors Scale and the Nursing Student Competence Scale.

Result: A total of 72 participants (40 in the experimental group and 32 in the control group) were included in the final statistical analysis. The response rate was 92%. Statistically significant differences in nursing student empathy, caring behavior and competence were observed between the experimental and control groups (p < .05). The η effect levels were 0.083, 0.223 and 0.270. Higher caring behavior scores were significantly associated with higher nursing student competence scores (β = 0.81, 95% CI:0.66-0.97).

Conclusions: Education based on video role-play and guided reflection improved empathy, caring behavior and nursing competence in first-year nursing students.