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Empathic Communication in Virtual Education for Nursing Students: I'm Sorry to Hear That
Yulia A Strekalova1, Janice L Krieger, A J Kleinheksel
1Author Affiliations: PhD Candidate, Division of Graduate Studies and Research (Ms Strekalova), and Associate Professor and STEM Translational Communication Center Director (Dr Krieger), College of Journalism and Communications, University of Florida; Director of Instructional Design (Dr Kleinheksel) and Chief Technology Officer (Dr Kotranza), Shadow Health, Inc, Gainesville, Florida.
Abstract:
The current study examined the communication strategies used by undergraduate nursing students (N = 343) to express empathy during simulated health history interviews. Interacting with a virtual patient, students encountered up to 9 information disclosures that warranted the expression of empathy but recognized few (33.54%). Sophistication of language to express empathy varied depending on the disclosure topic. These findings suggest that empathy as a learned skill can be incorporated into a variety of nursing contexts.
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