Professional framing and emotional stability modulate facial appearance biases in nursing students

Providing the same standard of care to all patients alike, regardless of race, gender, age or any other irrelevant characteristic is imperative in the healthcare profession. In this study we examined whether and to what extent unintentional evaluations based on facial appearance of others affect nursing students' readiness to approach them and provide nursing care.

A cross-sectional study was conducted from November 2018 to July 2019. Nursing students (N = 160) enrolled in the Nursing Degree Course of School of Medicine of Bologna University, completed a self-report questionnaire assessing personality traits and evaluated photographs of trustworthy, untrustworthy and neutral-looking male and female faces, while indicating their own approach behavior in a series of social interaction and caretaking scenarios.

Trustworthy faces elicited a higher approach readiness than untrustworthy and neutral ones across scenarios. Nonetheless, the nursing care scenario facilitated the approach toward others perceived as untrustworthy. Emotional stability trait further enhanced the approach of untrustworthy-looking others and provision of impartial care.

Present findings suggest that facial appearance bias among nursing students may be downregulated by activating cognitive representations of their professional role as future caretakers and their caretaking motivation. This speaks of the need to integrate as early as possible into existing nursing education programs simulation scenarios aimed to increase emotional awareness and model nursing students' future relational and caring skills.