Empathetic Skills Research Articles

Research on the Current Status and Countermeasures of Family Education Guidance Provided by Kindergartens in the Transition from Kindergarten to Primary School: A Case Study of X Kindergarten in Jimo District, Qingdao City, Shandong Province

This study investigates the current status of family education guidance provided by kindergartens during the transition from kindergarten to primary school in Jimo District, Qingdao City, Shandong Province, and proposes recommendations and strategies for improvement. The research identifies several issues, including deficiencies in the organizational management of family education guidance by kindergartens and the lack of a robust regulatory framework. To address these challenges, kindergartens should establish a constructive mutual assistance mechanism for family education during the transition from kindergarten to primary school and enhance teachers' empathetic skills. Additionally, a collaborative effort between home and kindergarten is essential to ensure a smooth transition for both parents and children into the primary school stage.

Twelve tips for medical teachers to facilitate effective discussion among students to engage in reflective interpretation of Museum Arts

Integrating arts and humanities into medical education is a pragmatic approach that significantly enriches students’ learning experiences by enhancing their observational, interpretative, and empathetic skills. Engaging students in thoughtful dialogue become crucial at it not only enriches their understanding of human experiences and cultural contexts but also sharpens their communication skills – essential for effective patient interactions and collaborative healthcare environments. This article outlines twelve essential tips for medical teachers aimed at effectively facilitating discussions among students within the context of museum arts. These strategies are carefully designed to create a safe and inclusive learning environment, promote active and equitable participation, and encourage deep, reflective interpretation of artworks. By implementing these tips, educators can not only foster a more conducive educational landscape but also significantly enhance their own teaching practices by pushing the boundaries of traditional medical curricula with new ways to integrate empathy, critical thinking, and cultural awareness.

Classification of Higher-Order Thinking Skills of the Teachers Based on Institution, Seniority, and Branch with Discriminant Analysis.

The present study aimed to determine the variations between higher-order thinking skills (critical, creative, and empathetic thinking) of the teachers based on institution, branch, and professional seniority. The study data were collected from 345 teachers with the Critical Thinking Tendency Scale, Marmara Creative Thinking Aptitudes Scale, and Basic Empathy Scale, and confirmatory factor analysis was conducted on the data. The data were analyzed with discriminant analysis. The study findings demonstrated that there were significant differences between the critical, creative, and empathetic thinking skills of the teachers based on the institution of employment, their seniority, and their branch. The analysis of the discriminant functions revealed that the most discriminatory variables were empathy based on the institution and creative thinking based on seniority and branch. It was determined that the teachers employed in pre- and primary schools with less than 15 years of seniority scored higher in critical thinking skills, and teachers who were employed in middle schools with 16 years or more seniority scored higher in creative thinking skills. Foreign language teachers scored higher in both thinking skills. Finally, the mean empathy skill scores of the teachers employed in pre- and primary schools with 15 years or less seniority in the common branch were higher.

Navigating human-AI dynamics: implications for organizational performance (SLR)

Purpose The purpose of this study is to investigate the key characteristics of artificial intelligence (AI) in organizational settings, analyze its capacity to reduce customer service jobs in favor of more advanced roles and analyze its efficacy in candidate screening by emphasizing performance. Design/methodology/approach A comprehensive analysis of 40 papers is performed using the PRISMA method based on data from Web of Science, Scopus, Emerald and Google Scholar. Findings The findings show optimized human resource management operations such as recruiting and performance monitoring, resulting in increased precision in hiring and decreased employee turnover. Customer service automation redistributes human labor to more intricate positions that need analytical reasoning and empathetic skills. Practical implications The study has two key implications. First, AI can streamline customer service, freeing up human workers for more complex tasks. Second, AI may increase candidate screening accuracy and efficiency, improving recruiting outcomes and organizational performance. Originality/value The study adds to the current literature by shedding light on the intricate relationships between AI and organizational performance and providing insights into the processes underpinning trust-building in AI technology.

The Effect of Women in Business on the Performance of Commercial Banks in Calabar, Nigeria

This research paper investigates the impact of women in business on the performance of commercial banks in Calabar, Nigeria. The paper explores how the presence of women in various business roles, particularly in leadership and management, affects the financial and operational success of the banking sector. A survey research design was adopted. A sample size of fifty-four (54) respondents was selected from the total population of sixty-two (62) women employees using simple random sampling technique in all the 13 branches of the banks. Data were collected through a structured questionnaire and were analyzed using descriptive statistics and a simple linear regression was used to test the hypotheses via SPSS. The research findings showed that the women in business have significant effect on organizational performance in commercial bank branches selected for the study. Specifically, the study revealed that there is a significant and positive effect of women in business on organizational productivity, financial stability, customer satisfaction, employee engagement, and innovation. Arising from the findings, the study recommended that organizations whether manufacturing or servicing should ensure gender diversity in their team which will bring unique perspectives and experiences to the table, which can lead to more effective problem-solving and new ideas for improving productivity and innovation. The study also recommended that organizations should encourage women participation in the leadership role as they are often known for their strong communication and empathetic skills, which can lead to higher service quality and improved organizational effectiveness to enhance performance.

Examination of 21st Century Learning Skills and Perceived Empathetic and Social Self Efficacy Skills of Preservice Teachers

The importance of 21st century skills have been increasing. These skills are effective in adaptation of an individual to society. Self efficacy of an individual could influence gaining of these skills. Perceived social self efficacy of teachers effects teaching attitudes and behaviors. It also has an affect on students’ learning motivations. The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between 21st century skills of and perceived empathetic and social self efficacy of preservice teachers. The research is conducted in correlational survey model. 179 preservice preschool teachers were participated in the research. The data obtained from Personal Information Form, 21st Century Learning Skills and Perceived Empathetic and Social Self Efficacy scales by means of Google Form. Independent t-test, one-way ANOVA analysis and Pearson correlation were used to analyze. While there was a statistically significant difference according to being only or first child in perceived social self efficacy dimension, there was not statistically significant difference according to age, class, GPA and education level of parents. There was not statistically significant difference in innovativeness skills according to age, class, being first or only child, GPA and education level of parents. Except innovativeness and perceived social self-efficacy skills sub-dimensions, there is positive correlation between all dimensions.

Assessing the Gap Between Women's Expectations and Perceptions of the Quality of Intrapartum Care in Jordan: A Two-Stage Study Using the SERVQUAL Model.

Although Jordan has made significant progress toward expanding the utilization of facility-based intrapartum care, prior research highlights that poor service quality is still persistent. This study aimed to identify quality gaps between women's expectations and perceptions of the actual intrapartum care received, while exploring the contributing factors. Utilizing a pre-post design, quality gaps in intrapartum care were assessed among 959 women pre- and postchildbirth at a prominent tertiary hospital in northern Jordan. Data were gathered using the SERVQUAL scale, measuring service quality across reliability, responsiveness, tangibles, assurance, and empathy dimensions. The overall mean gap score between women's expectations and perceptions of the quality of intrapartum care was -0.60 (±0.56). The lowest and highest mean gap scores were found to be related to tangibles and assurance dimensions, -0.24 (±0.39) and -0.88 (±0.35), respectively. Significant negative quality gaps were identified in the dimensions of assurance, empathy, and responsiveness, as well as overall service quality (p < 0.001). The MLR analyses highlighted education (β = 0.61), mode of birth (β = -0.60), admission timing (β = -0.41), continuity of midwifery care (β = -0.43), physician's gender (β = -0.62), active labour duration (β = 0.37), and pain management (β = -0.33) to be the key determinants of the overall quality gap in intrapartum care. Our findings underscore the importance of fostering a labour environment that prioritizes enhancing caregivers' empathetic, reassuring, and responsive skills to minimize service quality gaps and enhance the overall childbirth experience for women in Jordan. This paper is a collaborative effort involving women with lived experiences of childbirth, midwives, and obstetrics and gynaecologist physicians. The original idea, conceptualization, data generation, and coproduction, including manuscript editing, were shaped by the valuable contributions of stakeholders with unique perspectives on intrapartum care in Jordan.

Teacher Empathy in an engineering classroom: Exploring the growth in perception of Teacher Empathy through the journey of three engineering faculty members

AbstractBackgroundIn higher education, Teacher Empathy is a term that refers to the empathetic skills of teachers. Researchers in other disciplines have shown that Teacher Empathy reduces teacher burnout and improves teacher satisfaction and student performance. There is little research on Teacher Empathy within engineering education.PurposeIn our current study, we explored the potential changes in perception of Teacher Empathy among three engineering faculty members as they utilized empathetic actions while teaching second‐year engineering courses. Understanding the experiences of faculty members will help us to implement and further explore Teacher Empathy in engineering education.MethodTeacher Action Research methodology helped us provide agency to our three participants and research with them instead of on them. We used a combination of values coding and simultaneous coding for data analysis.FindingsImproved confidence in their empathetic skills was observed for two participants as they showed positive evolution of their perception about Teacher Empathy. The other participant increased the number of empathetic approaches he used in his classroom.ConclusionReduced teacher burnout, improved teacher satisfaction, and better student performance were some of the major benefits of Teacher Empathy that emerged. The difference in the evolution of each participant's perception about Teacher Empathy indicated that the personality of a faculty member has an influence on implementation and success of Teacher Empathy.

Fostering Empathy: Nurturing Compassionate Healers through Innovative Teaching and Insightful Assessment in Medical Education

Abstract: The significance of empathy in the realm of medical education cannot be undermined, as once a student embarks on their journey to serve and heal mankind, cultivating empathetic skills becomes an indispensable part of their training. Empathy plays a significant role in healthcare delivery in the domains of patient outcomes and doctor-patient relationships. This article provides a brief review of empathy education and assessment techniques in the field of medicine. Upon realizing the merits that can be attributed to empathy, it is of paramount importance that medical students must be trained in empathy to transform them into patient-centered healthcare professionals. Only training medical students in empathy will not serve the purpose, and we must complement the training component with assessment. In conclusion, empathy is one of the key components of compassionate and patient-centered medical care. This calls for the need to train and assess medical students during their training period to improve their empathetic abilities and support the process of producing competent and compassionate future medical doctors.

The relationship between Empathy and listening styles is complex: implications for doctors in training

BackgroundEffective communication is the key to a successful relationship between doctors and their patients. Empathy facilitates effective communication, but physicians vary in their ability to empathize with patients. Listening styles are a potential source of this difference. We aimed to assess empathy and listening styles among medical students and whether students with certain listening styles are more empathetic.MethodsIn this cross-sectional study, 97 medical students completed the Jefferson scale of Empathy (JSE) and the revised version of the Listening Styles Profile (LSP-R). The relationship between empathy and listening styles was assessed by comparing JSE scores across different listening styles using ANOVA in SPSS software. A p-value less than 0.05 was considered significant.ResultsOverall, the students showed a mean empathy score of 103 ± 14 on JSE. Empathy scores were lower among clinical students compared to preclinical students. Most of the medical students preferred the analytical listening style. The proportion of students who preferred the relational listening style was lower among clinical students compared to preclinical students. There was no significant relationship between any of the listening styles with empathy.ConclusionOur results do not support an association between any particular listening style with medical students’ empathic ability. We propose that students who have better empathetic skills might shift between listening styles flexibly rather than sticking to a specific listening style.

Evidence-Based Practice Approach on Clinical Empathy Skills Among Health Professionals: A Systematic Review Protocol

Introduction: Effective educational programs promote and strengthen nursing students’ empathetic skills, contributing to health professionals’ pleasure and emotions of personal accomplishment by offering a sense of excellent personal well-being, quality therapeutic management, and clinical expertise. Objectives: This review will synthesize the available evidence on the effectiveness of clinical empathy in general practice and clinical empathy skill training among health professionals. Review questions were structured using the PICOT framework. Inclusion criteria: We will include articles that detail original empirical studies and systematic reviews related to empathy skills among health professionals and the effect of empathy training on clinical empathy skills. Methods: The databases include the National Library of Medicine, SCOPUS, CENTRAL, MEDLINE, PubMed, EMBASE, and EBSCO. The key methods for facilitating the review will be print and electronic resources. Major medical subject heading (mesh) terms in titles and abstracts will be used in the search. To establish existing literature on the empathy training program, the search will contain the terms “empathy,” “clinical empathy,” and “empathy training” in all fields of the databases. The search strategy will commence from 2023 onward with no language restrictions. A team of independent reviewers will screen the retrieved titles, abstracts, and full-text reports and check the data quality using the John Hopkins EBP model and the literature will be systematically reviewed by following PRISMA Guidelines.

Mutual-cognition for proactive human–robot collaboration: A mixed reality-enabled visual reasoning-based method

Human-Robot Collaboration (HRC) is key to achieving the flexible automation required by the mass personalization trend, especially towards human-centric intelligent manufacturing. Nevertheless, existing HRC systems suffer from poor task understanding and poor ergonomic satisfaction, which impede empathetic teamwork skills in task execution. To overcome the bottleneck, a Mixed Reality (MR) and visual reasoning-based method is proposed in this research, providing mutual-cognitive task assignment for human and robotic agents’ operations. Firstly, an MR-enabled mutual-cognitive HRC architecture is proposed, with the characteristic of monitoring Digital Twins states, reasoning co-working strategies, and providing cognitive services. Secondly, a visual reasoning approach is introduced, which learns scene interpretation from the visual perception of each agent’s actions and environmental changes to make task planning strategies satisfying human–robot operation needs. Lastly, a safe, ergonomic, and proactive robot motion planning algorithm is proposed to let a robot execute generated co-working strategies, while a human operator is supported with intuitive task operation guidance in the MR environment, achieving empathetic collaboration. Through a demonstration of a disassembly task of aging Electric Vehicle Batteries, the experimental result facilitates cognitive intelligence in Proactive HRC for flexible automation.

Outline for Empathy-Based Medical Education

Empathy has been recognized in recent years to play a central role for the successful practice of medicine. Hence, developing empathetic skills needs to be the underlying objective during the training of undergraduate medical students as well as in continuous education of health professionals. However, during the process of medical education, the quality of empathy that is naturally present within the student has been found to decline. The task is to achieve the process of learning medicine and at the same time preserve and foster the quality of empathy. Spontaneous learning based on one’s own interest, is a form of self-directed learning that taps the student’s sense of curiosity about the problem and concern for the patient. Knowledge is acquired in a case-centered manner. All evaluations to be done through case-based discussions. The textbooks in each subject are to be treated as knowledge repositories for choosing the topics that need to be learnt. The ‘self-directed spontaneous learning’ ensures creativity in approach to problems, optimum utilization of one’s time and avoids stress. The student’s connection with his or her own ‘inner self’ is crucial for a focused and creative mind; therefore, its cultivation through the process of meditation is important. Empathy-based medical education-EBME facilitates the training of doctors who are competent as well as empathetic. Keeping the subjective aspect of education as the base while acquiring the objective aspect, leads to balance between competence and empathy.

An Empathy and Arts Curriculum During a Pediatrics Clerkship: Impact on Student Empathy and Behavior.

Empathy is critical within medicine and improves patient outcomes and satisfaction. Empathy declines during the clerkship years due to the hidden curriculum, where students observe emotional distancing and desensitization by providers. Studies show arts curricula can preserve empathy but are limited by sample bias and preclerkship occurrence. We implemented and evaluated a brief pediatric clerkship arts curriculum to improve empathic behaviors. We created two 1-hour required small-group sessions for pediatric clerkship medical students. The first session paired arts observation techniques with various paintings. The students then applied these techniques to video-based simulated patient interactions in the second session. We used the Toronto Empathy Questionnaire (TEQ) and an empathy behavior checklist (EBC) as pre/post assessments to gauge self-reported empathy and empathetic behaviors. We compared responses of learners who attended the sessions (curriculum group) to learners unable to attend (control group). Thirty-four students participated in the curriculum; 19 were in the control group. Neither the control nor the curriculum group had a significant change in pre/post TEQ scores. Students with pre-TEQ scores less than 45 who participated in the curriculum had significant improvement in post-TEQ scores compared to their control group counterparts (p = .02). On the EBC, there was a significant difference between the curriculum and control groups for those who explored more about the child/family's experience (p < .05). Our work suggests that a brief clerkship arts curriculum is useful for improving self-reported empathy ratings and empathetic skills, particularly for students identified as having below-average empathy.

A Qualitative Analysis of Experiences of Medical Students Serving as Abortion Doulas.

Innovative strategies are needed in clinical education to teach empathetic behavior and communication skills. This study aimed to investigate preclinical medical students' experiences volunteering as abortion doulas and to understand the impact of their participation on their professional training. In this qualitative study, the authors conducted semistructured interviews with medical students who had volunteered as abortion doulas in March to July 2016. The interviews described motivations for participating, experiences volunteering as a doula, approach to caring for patients, and acquisition of communication skills and knowledge of abortion. The authors analyzed interview transcripts using a conventional content analysis approach, and themes were identified. The authors performed 22 interviews. For most participants, this was their first exposure to an abortion procedure or patient care in any capacity. Participants identified acquisition of skills including patient advocacy, communication, and empathy that they were later able to apply throughout their clinical clerkships. This opportunity improved well-being and solidified their decision to apply for residencies in reproductive health fields. After volunteering as abortion doulas, medical students were able to develop communication skills, empathy, and patient advocacy applicable to other areas of patient care. Preclinical students, potentially in other health care professions training, participating in patient care as doulas have the potential to further personal development, professionalism, and activism.

The Association between Perceived Job Stress and Satisfaction, Empathy and Spiritual Beliefs on Burnout and Emotional Distress in Nurses: A Cross-sectional Study

Background: Nursing is a noble profession, which comes with a lot of responsibilities, workload, and demands made by the various stakeholders of health-care industry. Maintaining an empathic nurse–patient relationship is at its core, irrespective of the types of nursing care being rendered. This study aims to assess the association between perceived job stress and satisfaction, empathy, and spiritual beliefs on burnout and emotional distress, in nurses. Methodology: A cross-sectional research design was undertaken to meet the study objectives. Data were collected from a total of 257 consenting nurses, using the modified Consultants Job Stress and Satisfaction questionnaire, Maslach Burnout Inventory, Jefferson Scale of Physician Empathy-Health Provider Version, and General Health Questionnaire-12. Results: High empathy was related to lower depersonalization (DP) and higher personal accomplishment. Nurses who agreed on to their work beliefs being influenced by spiritual beliefs also had more commonly reported high job stress. More than a third (34.24%) of the nurses were emotionally distressed with a significant score in General Health Questionnaire-12 (GHQ-12). The GHQ-12 score significantly varied with high emotional exhaustion (EE), high DP, and job stress. Conclusion: Empathy and spiritual belief act as modifying factors for job stress and job satisfaction, respectively. A significant proportion of the nurses were found to have emotional distress which was significantly related to EE, DP, and job stress. A training module including strategies to build empathetic skills, stress management, and ways to promote psychological well-being, should be embedded in the curriculum of new graduate nurses.

Effect of clinical practice stress, stress coping style and empathy on clinical competence of nursing students

Background: This cross-sectional survey aimed to explore the influence of clinical practice stress, stress coping, and empathy on the clinical competence of nursing students. Additionally, it aimed to compare the effectiveness of multiple regression analysis and quantile regression analysis in identifying the factors influencing clinical competence. Methods: Data was collected from 201 nursing students between June 15th and August 1st, 2016, and analyzed using several statistical methods, including descriptive statistics, t-tests, ANOVA, Pearson correlation, multiple linear regression, and quantile regression, using SPSS 21.0 and STATA 14.0 software. Results: The results demonstrated positive correlations among clinical competence and stress coping (r= .52, p &lt; .001) and empathy (r= .39, p &lt; .001). Variables like clinical learning environment (β= -.18, p=.007), practice workload (β= .22, p &lt; .001), and active stress coping (β= .57, p &lt; .001) were found to explain 50% of the variance in clinical competence. After quantile regression, affecting factors for clinical competence were active stress coping for all quantiles, clinical learning environment from 15% to 60% quantile, practice workload for 15~75% quantile, and nursing major satisfaction for 15% quantile. Conclusion: This study highlights the importance of stress coping abilities, empathetic skills, and a supportive clinical environment in fostering the clinical competence of nursing students. These findings can serve as a foundation for designing targeted strategies and educational programs to enhance nursing students' clinical competence effectively, considering various levels of clinical competency. The study results offer valuable insights into developing interventions to improve nursing education and enhance the overall quality of patient care delivered by future nursing professionals.

Empathy and associated influencing factors in occupational therapy students: A cross-sectional study

INTRODUCTION: Empathy, often described as the comprehension of another person's state of mind, enables one to appreciate social environments and anticipate others' behaviour. In occupational therapy, the therapeutic use of self, which is grounded in empathy, is commonly considered essential, as it enables therapists to manage a therapeutic relationship with clients. However, high caseloads, stressors and pressure to perform often impact empathy levels. This study aimed to determine the empathy levels of undergraduate occupational therapy students, as well as factors affecting empathy levels METHOD: A quantitative approach was used, with an observational, cross-sectional study methodology, employing an electronic survey consisting of the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) and a questionnaire developed by the researchers RESULTS: In total, 112 (response rate 70.4%) students participated in the study. Overall, the students had a satisfactory level of empathy. Of concern, however, was the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and the lack of clinical fieldwork experience, which possibly contributed to the lower empathy levels observed among second-and third-year students CONCLUSION: From the findings, it is suggested that more attention should be given to empathy, as it plays an integral role in practice with clients, as well as in the training of occupational therapy students Implications for practice The findings suggest the opportunity for interventions and support systems that can help students manage high caseloads, stressors, and performance pressures, while also fostering and maintaining empathy. Implementing strategies such as stress management programs, mindfulness training, and self-care initiatives can help mitigate the negative impact on empathy levels and promote the development of empathetic skills in future occupational therapists. The research study's results have implications for the professional practice of occupational therapy. It emphasizes the need for ongoing education and training programs that focus on empathy development and maintenance throughout a therapist's career. By providing therapists with the tools, resources, and support to sustain their empathy levels in challenging work environments, the study suggests that the quality of care provided to clients can be enhanced, leading to better therapeutic outcomes and overall client satisfaction. Organizational changes within healthcare settings may be necessary to address workload issues and create a supportive environment that nurtures empathy among occupational therapy professionals.

The effects of adapted physical education sessions on the empathy of female students with overweight.

The global prevalence of childhood and adolescent overweight and obesity increases rapidly. Physical activity plays a major role in the prevention of obesity. The present study aimed to analyze the effect of adapted basketball sessions according to the empathic capacity of adolescent girls with overweight. Forty-two girls with overweight (age: 16.09 ± 0.85; years; height: 1.64 ± 0.67 m: weight: 73.02 ± 0.61 kg; BMI: 27.15 ± 1.37) volunteered to participate in the study and were randomly assigned to the experimental group (EG, n = 21) and control group (CG, n = 21). EG was submitted to a basketball intervention adapted to students with obesity while the CG performed classic basketball exercises for 7 weeks. Each week girls had 2 basketball teaching-learning sessions, lasting 50 min. The participants' empathy was assessed before and after the intervention using the Favre CEC. The results showed that adaptation intervention was associated with a significant emotional contagion decrease (Δ% = 0.466) and splitting with emotions (Δ% = 0.375), and with an empathy increase (Δ% = 1.387), in EG compared to CG. No significant difference was assessed in the empathy CG, before and after the intervention. This study demonstrated that adapted physical education classes could be an effective strategy to improve empathetic skills and inclusion of overweight girls as well as a means to prevent obesity.

The mediating role of emotional intelligence in the relationship of professional quality of life with caring behaviors in pediatric nurses: A path analysis

ABSTRACT Pediatric nurses are key members in providing health care to children. Emotional intelligence plays an important role in healthcare and healthcare education, and higher emotional intelligence is associated with more compassionate and empathetic patient care, higher knowledge and skills, and better teamwork. This research is a predictive correlation study which was conducted in 2022 on 236 nurses working in pediatric wards. In this study, SPSS22 and AMOS26 and path analysis statistical method were used for data analysis. The results of this study showed that the professional quality of life with caring behaviors in nurses working in pediatric ward (β = 0.339, p < .001) and the professional quality of life with emotional intelligence in nurses working in pediatric ward (β = 0.175 , p = .002) and emotional intelligence correlated with care behaviors in nurses working in the pediatric ward (β = 0.306, p = .001). The ability to explain the final model is 18%. The results of this study showed that having a higher professional quality of life in pediatric nurses, in addition to being effective on the mental health of nurses, can also affect caring behaviors. Pediatric nurses with a higher level of compassion satisfaction and less burnout can have empathic behaviors and more effective communication with the child and its parents as a whole unit of care and provide more humanistic care that is required to care for a sick child.