The effect of affective learning on alexithymia, empathy, and attitude toward disabled persons in nursing students: A randomized controlled study

The role of training and education for enhancing empathy among healthcare students: a systematic review of randomised controlled trials

BACKGROUND

Empathy can lead to a better patient-professional relationship, and this skill that can be learned and trained, and the university is the ideal place to start this training. The aim of this systematic review is to assess whether training and education interventions have an impact on increasing empathy in health students.

METHODS

The acronym PICOS was used to formulate the research question. A high-sensitivity search was made combining indexed terms, entry terms, and Boolean OR/AND in 9 databases, including grey literature and manual search of retrieved articles. Two researchers selected the studies based on previously established eligibility criteria. The risk of bias was verified using the RoB2 tool and a meta-analysis was performed using RevMan 5.4.

RESULTS

The analysis included 30 studies in the qualitative synthesis and 20 studies that presented adequate data for the meta-analysis. An overall moderate effect on participants' empathy was found after the intervention (standardized mean difference 0.45, 95% CI 0.25 to 0.65). However, heterogeneity was high (I2 = 79%). More than half of the studies were considered at high risk of bias. The results suggests that interventions can be effective in increasing empathy.

CONCLUSION

This topic has been in the spotlight in the area of health education in recent years. And more quality studies will be needed, as well as long-term evaluation of interventions to ensure the durability of empathy enhancement.

CLINICAL TRIAL NUMBER

Not applicable.

Medical students attitudes towards patients with disability: a scale validation study

BACKGROUND

Disparities in health outcomes among persons with disabilities (PWD) are influenced by preventable factors including negative attitudes and discriminatory practices of healthcare professionals and the limited training of medical students in working with PWD.

OBJECTIVE

The purpose of this study was to validate the "Medical Students' Attitudes Towards Patients with Disabilities" (MSA-PWD) scale among Lebanese medical students and identify associated factors.

METHOD

A scale validation study was conducted as part of the standard internal evaluation process at the medical school, using a cross-sectional design based on a qualitative content validity process, involving students from years 1 to 4. The study included questions from previous tools, and others encouraging students to reflect on their encounters with PWD and share their insights. Statistical procedures were applied to assess the reliability and validity of the tool, including construct validity, convergent validity, known-group validity, and trend analysis.

RESULTS

After a careful selection of the related items, the MSA-PWD scale demonstrated high construct validity and internal consistency, along with good convergent validity and known-group validity. Factor 1 of the scale was able to differentiate between different enrollment years of medical students, correlating with the self-assessment tool for confidence in dealing with PWD and clinical experience scenarios.

CONCLUSION

The "Medical Students' Attitudes Towards Patients with Disabilities" scale validated in this study is a comprehensive instrument that can distinguish between different medical school enrollment classes. The newly developed scale was valid, and reliable.

Empathy in Nursing Students: A Scoping Review

Purpose: Empathy is essential for nursing students as they progress through their education. To date, few review studies explored empathy in nursing students. This review examined empathy in nursing students, including how to promote empathy, factors contributing to empathy, and the evaluation of empathy. Design: The eligible population included undergraduate nursing students. The concept of interest was empathy related to nursing students. The context was undergraduate nursing programs. Eligible studies included quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-method studies. The protocol was registered in Open Science Framework (OSF). Review Methods: Joanna Briggs Institute Reviewers' Manual guided this scoping review protocol. MEDLINE with Full text (EBSCO), Scopus, ScienceDirect (Elsevier), and PubMed were used for the electronic database search. The findings were analyzed with descriptive statistics and thematic analysis. Findings: A total of 94 articles were included for analysis. Three main themes emerged: (1) approaches to promoting empathy, (2) contributing factors to empathy, and (3) evaluation of empathy. Conclusions: Empathy is cultivated in nursing in numerous ways, highlighting the need to incorporate it into the nursing curriculum. There is also controversy regarding the relationship between empathy and individual characteristics. This finding highlights the need for more effective empathy-promoting educational training that considers these personal characteristics.

Factors that affect levels of alexithymia, empathy and communication skills of nursing students in northern Iran

AIM

The inability of nurses to express their own emotions, understand others' emotions and show empathy could result in communication gaps that could affect patient care outcomes. This study investigates the factors associated with the levels of alexithymia, empathy and communication skills among nursing students.

DESIGN

A survey was conducted among 365 nursing students, and data were collected using an online questionnaire.

METHODS

Data analyses were done using SPSS software version 22.

RESULTS

There was a significant positive association between age and empathy and a negative association between the number of times a nurse took the entrance exam. The level of education and interest in nursing correlate with communication skills. All the predictor variables of alexithymia in this current study were not significant. Emphasis should be placed on improving nursing students' empathy and communication skills. Student nurses should be taught how to recognize and express their emotions. To assess their mental health, they must be screened regularly.

Empathy alleviates the learning burnout of medical college students through enhancing resilience

OBJECTIVE

The problem of learning burnout of medical students is becoming prominent, and empathy can play a good predictive role in learning burnout. The present study aimed to investigate the relationship between empathy and learning burnout, as well as the mediation effect of resilience in this relation.

METHODS

Five hundred and eighty-eighth college students from a key medical university in Yunnan Province was investigated using the Basic Empathy Scale, Learning Burnout Scale, and Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale. All the measures showed good reliability and validity in the present study. Data were analyzed using SPSS 23.0 and Amos 22.0.

RESULTS

Using structural equation modeling, we tested a conceptual model indicated that: (1) medical students' empathy negatively and significantly predicted learning burnout; (2) medical students' empathy positively predicts mental resilience; (3) resilience of medical students negatively predicts learning burnout; (4) resilience partially mediated the relationship between empathy and learning burnout of medical students, while also controlling for family socioeconomic status.

CONCLUSION

These findings highlight the mediating role of resilience in the effect of empathy on learning burnout of medical college students. It may contribute to a better understanding of the effect of empathy. Moreover, it can also provide constructive suggestions for protecting and improve empathy and resilience of medical college students.