The Educational Effects of a Pregnancy Simulation in Medical/Nursing Students and Professionals

Abstract

Background The objective of this study was to investigate whether a pregnancy experience program (PREP) simulating physical changes in a mother during the last trimester of pregnancy could increase empathy, understanding, and positive attitude of medical/nursing students and their professional counterparts. Methods This was a prospective observational study on medical/nursing students and their professional counterparts. Jefferson Scale of Physician Empathy (JSPE), physical difficulty and positive attitude score, and perceived effectiveness scores prior to PREP were compared to those after PREP. Results A total of 189 participants completed PREP and questionnaires both prior to and after PREP. Mean JSPE score, physical difficulty score, and positive attitude scores were significantly increased following PREP ( p <0.001, all). Perceived effectiveness scores about awareness, empathy, and understanding after PREP were significantly high in the professional group than in the student group ( p =0.004, p =0.01, and p =0.017, respectively). Multiple stepwise linear regression analysis revealed that major in medicine ( p = 0.014), health care professionals (nurse or physician) ( p <0.001), and marriage experience ( p < 0.001) were significant predictors of increasing empathy, difficulty feelings and effectiveness scores, respectively. Conclusion PREP is an effective simulation program that can improve empathy, positive attitude, and awareness in medical/nursing students as well as their professional counterparts.

A systematic scoping review of approaches to teaching and assessing empathy in medicine

“…• Improvement in self-rated empathy scores using validated scales [ 1 , 4 , 8 , 9 , 11 , 16 , 19 , 47 – 49 , 52 , 60 , 61 , 65 , 68 , 71 – 73 , 75 , 78 , 79 , 82 , 87 , 90 , 94 – 96 , 100 , 104 , 106 , 108 , 110 , 114 , 121 , 123 , 124 , 127 , 132 , 137 , 141 ]…”

Effect of Pregnancy Simulator on Midwifery Nursing Students’ Experience of Physical Difficulties and Attitude toward pregnant women

“…(2019) (8) .It consisted of 7 questions as; when ideal with a pregnant woman, I feel sympathy to her situation; even simple tasks will be difficult to do while pregnant.….etc.…”

“…The personal experiences with sickness and physical difficulties as well as learning about illness through patient histories, novels, fictional stories, role playing, discussion and paintings have been all recommended as useful methods of teaching (7,8) .…”

Enseñar empatía en salud: una revisión integradora

“…En cuanto al empleo de escalas de medición de la empatía, diez artículos no las utilizaron, frente a 17 estudios que usaron estos instrumentos en sus investigaciones, tres de ellos propios y 19 preexistentes, destacándose entre estos últimos la Escala de Empatía Médica de Jefferson: Versión para Alumnos 14,16,17,18,20 , siendo utilizada en cinco artículos, seguido por el Schutte Self-Report Emotional Inteligence Test (SSEIT) 16,23 , después por el Cociente de Empatía (EQ): Versión Corta 8,22 , el Cociente de Sistematización: Versión Corta 8,22 , la Escala de Empatía de Jefferson: Versión para los Profesionales de Sanitarios 14,25 , y la propia Escala de Empatía de Jefferson 23,26 , siendo cada una de ellas empleada en dos estudios.…”

“…La versión para alumnos (JSPE-S) es un instrumento para medir la empatía en médicos y estudiantes de medicina que consta de un autoinforme con 20 ítems: la puntuación final puede variar entre 20 y 140 puntos, cuanto más alto es mayor es el nivel de empatía. Es de fácil aplicación y su realización lleva unos diez minutos 14 . Se evalúan tres dominios: toma de perspectiva (7 a 49 puntos), compasión (7 a 77 puntos) y capacidad de ponerse en el lugar del otro (7 a 14 puntos) 35 .…”