The Relationship Between Past Experience, Empathy, and Attitudes Toward Poverty

Area of Science:

• Nursing Education
• Public Health Nursing
• Empathy and Attitudes

Background:

• Service-learning and simulation are common in prelicensure public health nursing courses.
• These pedagogical methods show variable success in addressing student knowledge and attitudes towards vulnerable populations.
• Identifying factors influencing nursing students' attitudes toward poverty and empathy is crucial for improving public health nursing curricula.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify factors associated with attitudes toward poverty and empathy scores in senior-level prelicensure nursing students.
• To inform and improve pedagogical strategies in public health nursing education.
• To understand the impact of prior experiences on nursing students' perspectives.

Main Methods:

• A cross-sectional comparative study design was employed.
• Senior-level nursing students from traditional and accelerated cohorts were analyzed.
• Statistical analysis was used to compare groups based on prior experiences.

Main Results:

• Students with prior volunteer experience reported significantly lower empathy scores compared to those without prior volunteer experience (t[102] = -1.9, p < .05).
• This finding suggests a potential negative association between volunteer work and empathy in this student population.
• Further investigation into the nature of volunteer experiences may be warranted.

Conclusions:

• Nursing educators should proactively engage students in self-reflection on their backgrounds concerning poverty at the outset of public health nursing courses.
• Addressing personal biases and fostering shared knowledge are essential for effective public health nursing pedagogy.
• This approach can help mitigate potential biases and enhance students' capacity to care for vulnerable populations.