Effects of a Nonviolent Communication-Based Empathy Education Program for Nursing Students: A Quasi-Experimental Pilot Study.
Nurs. Rep. 2022, 12, 824-835.
Sung, J.; Kweon, Y.
https://doi.org/10.3390/nursrep12040080
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Abstract: The aim of the study was to evaluate an educational programme for nursing students focusing on empathy in non-violent communication. Participants were divided into two groups: an experimental group and a control group. The experimental group followed six sessions based on non-violent communication, including various activities such as discussions, role-playing and personal work. The results showed that the students in the experimental group significantly improved their scores on explicit tests of self-esteem, empathy, interpersonal relations and communication skills compared with the control group.
Comment: The use of a control group is essential for measuring changes. Here, however, the control group has no activities during those of the experimental group. It is therefore impossible to assert that the score differences between the two groups are due to the NVC content of the educational program. Indeed, these differences may simply be due to the fact that the 6 group sessions included a variety of activities, such as discussions, role-playing and personal work.
Moreover, as the tests were explicit and the training issues fairly obvious, it seemed easy for the experimental group to fall into confirmation bias, by responding in such a way as to increase the scores for each test.
Perspective: This study calls for careful attention to the use of control groups and implicit tests to evaluate the effects of an educational program. In addition, as the authors point out, it seems relevant to know whether these positive effects are maintained over the long term (e.g. 6 months).