Randomized trial examines empathy and compassion in nursing students, suggesting limited benefits from reflective learning interventions.
BACKGROUND: Empathy and compassion are essential professional values in nursing education; however, evidence on structured longitudinal reflective interventions remains limited. PURPOSE: To examine the effects of a longitudinal multimethod reflective learning intervention on nursing students' empathy and compassion. METHODS: This study was a 2-arm, parallel-group cluster randomized controlled trial. The study included 77 first-year nursing students assigned to intervention (n = 39) and control groups (n = 38). A 14-week structured reflective learning intervention incorporating role-play, guided debriefing, and clinical reflection was implemented during laboratory and clinical training. RESULTS: Linear mixed-model analyses revealed significant main effects of time for empathy and compassion scores (p < .001). However, no significant main effects of group or Time × Group interactions were found for either outcome (p > .05). CONCLUSION: Empathy and compassion levels increased over time among nursing students. However, the reflective learning intervention did not result in significantly greater improvements than the standard curriculum.
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Ergezen et al. (2026) studied this question.
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