Effect of Communication Skills Training on Empathy of Nursing Students
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.26463/rjns.13_1_4Keywords:
Effect, Communication skill training, Empathy, Nursing Students, Therapeutic relationshipAbstract
Background: Empathy is a necessary factor in the provision of quality nursing care. Empathy is a skill that may be acquired. The authors aimed to evaluate the change in empathy levels in nursing students following communication skills training.
Methods: An evaluative, pre-experimental, one group pretest posttest design was used to collect data from hundred, first year undergraduate nursing students. Toronto Empathy Questionnaire was used to determine the empathy level at baseline and after the intervention. Communication skill training was provided in the form of PowerPoint presentation, role paly, various exercises, group activities, demonstration and discussion.
Results: The mean empathy scores of students at posttest (45.03±6.39) were higher than the mean empathy levels at pretest (42.6±6.4). There was a significant difference in the post test empathy scores (t=4.6, p=0.00001). The study showed significant improvement immediately in empathy levels following communication skills training.
Conclusion: The findings suggest a need to incorporate a regular training program into the existing nursing curriculum, to enhance empathy and prevent its decline over the years.
References
1. Karimi Moaneghi H, Taheri N, Vaghee S, Behnam Voshani HM. The effect of communication skills training on the quality of nursing care of patients. Thesis Master of Since Degree in Nursing Education: Mashhad University of Medical Sciences (MUMS); 2013.
2. Norfolk T, Birdi K, Walsh D. The role of empathy in establishing rapport in the consultation: a new model. Med Educ 2007;41(7):690-7.
3. Doyle K, Hungerford C, Cruickshank M. Reviewing Tribunal cases and nurse behaviour: putting empathy back into nurse education with Bloom’s taxonomy. Nurse Educ Today 2014;34:1069-73.
4. Wu Y. Empathy in psychotherapy: Using conversation analysis to explore the therapists’ empathic interaction with clients. Southern Afr Linguistics Appl Language Stud 2019;37(3):232– 46.
5. Hojat M. Empathy in Patient Care: Antecedents, Development, Measurement, and Outcomes. Springer, New York;2016.
6. Menendez ME, Chen NC, Mudgal CS, Jupiter JB, Ring D. Physician Empathy as a Driver of Hand Surgery Patient Satisfaction. J Hand Surg Am 2015; 40:1860-5.
7. Rakel D, Barrett B, Zhang Z, et al. Perception of empathy in the therapeutic encounter: effects on the common cold. Patient Educ Couns 2011;85:390-7.
8. Haley B, Heo S, Wright P, Barone C, Rettigantid MR, Anders M. Effects of Using an Advancing Care Excellence for Seniors Simulation Scenario on Nursing Student Empathy: A Randomized Controlled Trial. Clinical Simulation in Nursing 2017;13:511-9.
9. Ward J, Cody J, Schaal M, Hojat M. The empathy enigma: An empirical study of decline in empathy among undergraduate nursing students. J Prof Nurs 2012;28(1):34-40.
10. Ozcan CT, Oflaz F, Sutcu Cicek H. Empathy: The effects of undergraduate nursing education in Turkey. Int Nurs Rev 2010;57(4):493-9.
11. Wilson SE, Prescott J, Becket G. Empathy levels in first- and third-year students in health and non-health disciplines. Am J Pharm Educ 2012;76(2): 24.
12. Nunes P, Williams S, Sa B, Stevenson K. A study of empathy decline in students from five health disciplines during their first year of training. Int J Med Educ 2011;2:12-7.
13. Ouzouni C, Nakakis K. An exploratory study on student nurses’ empathy. Health Sci. J 2012;6(3):534-552.
14. Ramos EF, Diaz-Narvaez VP, Otero JCF, et al. Empathy in nursing students. A cross-sectional study. Revista Salud Uninorte 2021;37(1):112-128.
15. Ferri P, Guerra E, Marcheselli L, Cunico L, Lorenzo RD. empathy and burnout:an analytic cross-sectional study among nurses and nursing students. Acta Biomed for Health Professions 2015;86(2):104- 115.
16. Marcysiak M, Dąbrowska O, Marcysiak MB. Understanding the concept of empathy in relation to nursing. Prog Health Sci 2014;4(2):75-81.
17. Hajibabaee F, Farahani M, Ameri Z, Salehi T, Hosseini A. The relationship between empathy and emotional intelligence among Iranian nursing students. Int. J. Med. Educ 2018;239-243.
18. Altwalbeh D, Khamaiseh AM, Algaralleh A self-reported empathy among nursing students at a university in Jordan. Bentham Open 2018;12:255- 263.
19. D’souza PC, Rasquinha SL, D’souza, et al. effect of a single-session communication skills training on empathy in medical students. Academic psychiatry. 2019.
20. Uyesi O, Üniversitesi B, Fakültesi SB, et al. The Effect of Nursing Communication Training on Empathy and Communication Skills of Nursing Students: A Quasi-Experimental Study. Int J Sci Res 2021;18:1123-1125.
21. Kataoka H, Iwase T, Ogawa H, et al. Can communication skills training improve empathy? A six-year longitudinal study of medical students in Japan. Medical teacher 2018:1-6.
22. Alhassan M. Effect of a 2-day communication skills training on nursing and midwifery students’ empathy: a randomised controlled trial. BMJ Open 2019;9:1-8
