Empathy Affects Individualized Care Perception and Pain Knowledge in Nursing Students

Area of Science:

• Nursing Education
• Pain Management
• Empathy in Healthcare

Background:

• Effective pain management is crucial for individualized nursing care.
• Nursing students often lack sufficient knowledge in pain management.
• Empathic tendency may influence the application of pain management knowledge.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the link between nursing students' knowledge and attitudes towards pain management and their perception of individualized care.
• To assess the mediating effect of empathic tendency on this relationship.

Main Methods:

• Cross-sectional descriptive and correlational study design.
• 267 nursing students with clinical experience participated.
• Data collected via surveys on knowledge, attitudes, individualized care, and empathic tendency; analyzed using correlation, regression, and PROCESS macro.

Main Results:

• Positive correlation found between pain management knowledge and individualized care perception (r = 0.403).
• Empathic tendency significantly predicted individualized care (β = 0.346).
• Empathic tendency partially mediated the relationship between pain knowledge/attitudes and individualized care (Indirect β = 0.168).

Conclusions:

• Enhanced pain management knowledge and empathic tendency improve nursing students' ability to provide individualized care.
• Integrating empathy development into educational programs is recommended for pain management training.