Improving Ethnocultural Empathy in Healthcare Students through a Targeted Intervention

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Healthcare Communication
• Cultural Competency in Healthcare

Background:

• Effective patient-provider communication is crucial for quality healthcare, especially for ethnic minorities.
• Disparities in healthcare services are linked to poor communication when racial or ethnic backgrounds differ.
• Training future healthcare providers in cross-cultural communication is essential.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the impact of an intervention on ethnocultural empathy among nursing and dental students.
• To assess changes in empathy scores using the Scale of Ethnocultural Empathy (SEE).
• To determine if empathy improvements are sustained post-intervention.

Main Methods:

• Pilot study involving first-year nursing (n=40) and dental (n=42) students.
• Anonymous online surveys administered at baseline, post-intervention, and one-month follow-up.
• Utilized the Scale of Ethnocultural Empathy (SEE) to measure changes in empathy.

Main Results:

• Statistically significant increases in SEE scores were observed from baseline to post-intervention (p < .05).
• The gains in ethnocultural empathy were maintained at the one-month follow-up.
• This is the first study to demonstrate an intervention's effectiveness in improving empathy towards different racial groups.

Conclusions:

• The intervention effectively improved ethnocultural empathy in future healthcare providers.
• Sustained empathy gains suggest the intervention's potential for long-term impact.
• Results support the need for controlled trials to further validate this communication skills training.