Open Access“Walking in Their Shoes”: The effects of an immersive digital story intervention on empathy in nursing students
Author(s) -
Yu Juping,
Parsons Gareth S,
Lancastle Deborah,
Tonkin Emma T,
Ganesh Siva
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
nursing open
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.55
H-Index - 12
ISSN - 2054-1058
DOI - 10.1002/nop2.860
Subject(s) - empathy , intervention (counseling) , psychology , randomized controlled trial , nursing , test (biology) , clinical psychology , medicine , social psychology , paleontology , biology
Aim To evaluate the effects of a novel, immersive digital story intervention on empathy. Design A randomized trial with three phases. Results A total of 238 2nd year nursing students were recruited between May 2018 and December 2019. At baseline, no significant differences in empathy between the groups were found ( p = .760). However, at post‐test, empathy was significantly higher in the intervention group (M: 118.76, SD : 10.65) than it was in the control group (M: 114.60, SD : 15.40) ( p = .012). At follow‐up, there were no significant differences in empathy between the groups ( p = .364). Conclusion The intervention resulted in an immediate increase in empathy in nursing students. However, further development of effective intervention delivery modes and fundamental redesign of the intervention itself would be needed to sustain this improvement over the long term.