<p>Effect of expert-patient teaching on empathy in nursing students: a randomized controlled trial</p>

Abstract

Background: Empathy is a relevant clinical competence for nursing students. Involvement of expert patients in nursing education could help students develop their innate capacity to empathize. Objective: To evaluate the effect of expert-patient teaching on empathy development in nursing students. Methods: This randomized controlled trial was conducted among 144 first-year undergraduate nursing students divided into two equal groups. In the experimental group, the educational intervention consisted of a seminar focused on empathy, followed by a presentation on expert-patient function. Subsequently, each student participated in two interactive meetings with nursing teacher and expert patient. At the end, the nursing teacher encouraged students to reflect on this experience. In the control group, students only attended a similar seminar focused on empathy and afterward participated in two interactive meetings with a nursing teacher to reflect on this topic without expert-patient involvement. Before (T0) and after (T1) the training intervention, the Balanced Emotional Empathy Scale, Jefferson Scale of Empathy — Health Professions Student (JSE-HPS), and a short demographic questionnaire were administered to the two student groups to measure their empathy levels. The study was approved by the Local Ethics Committee of Area Vasta Emilia Nord (protocol 1763, May 11, 2017). Data were statistically analyzed. Results: We found a statistically significant difference between mean scores at T0 and T1 in both scales in the experimental group. Male students, who presented significantly lower levels of empathy at baseline in comparison with females, showed increased in empathy after training on the the Balanced Emotional Empathy Scale in both the experimental and control groups. Conclusion: The present study highlights that involvement of expert patients in teaching is effective in improving empathy levels in both male and female nursing students. Expert-patient teaching can be a promising nursing-education modality for developing empathy.

Empathy and perceived burden in caregivers of patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders

“…BEES has been used to evaluate empathy level in neuroscience studies [ 50 , 51 ] and in different kinds of populations [ 49 ], especially among helping professions [ 52 , 53 ]. In particular, BEES has been used to score the level of empathy in caregivers of patients affected by cancer [ 54 ], showing that patient’s physical pain can be correlated with caregiver’s distress.…”

Perceptions of Caring Behavior Among Undergraduate Nursing Students: A Three-Cohort Observational Study

“…In our Nursing Degree Programme, a specific caring module “Principles and techniques of the care relationship” has been implemented with the aim of enhancing caring behaviors and, in order to develop students’ empathic abilities, a training session with a patient expert in the role of trainer is implemented during the first semester of each year. 39 …”

“…In our Nursing Degree Programme, a specific caring module "Principles and techniques of the care relationship" has been implemented with the aim of enhancing caring behaviors and, in order to develop students' empathic abilities, a training session with a patient expert in the role of trainer is implemented during the first semester of each year. 39 All students who had attended the clinical practice for about a month were considered eligible, whereas the students who had attended the internship for less than one month and those who were involved in Erasmus courses were excluded.…”

Effectiveness of Integrated Teaching Involving Patients as Teachers (PAT) Vs Traditional Teaching (TT) upon Cognitive Behaviour of Nursing Students at TamilNadu, India

“…Expert-patient teaching can be a promising nursing-education modality for developing empathy. 5 Patients' Involvement in Nursing Students' Clinical Education: A Scoping Review also reported that In general, patients appreciated the opportunity to contribute to a student's learning process and thus enhance the quality of patient care. However, the patients' approaches varied from active to passive participants, comprising active participants contributing to students' learning, followers of care and advice, and learning platforms with whom students practised their skills.…”