Empathy Training for Healthcare Professional Students
Empathy Training for Healthcare Students Through Combined Didactic, Practical and AI-based Methods
Hong Kong Metropolitan University
108 participants
Feb 1, 2026
INTERVENTIONAL
Conditions
Summary
This study aims to examine the effects of a newly developed training program on the empathy of healthcare students. The objectives are: (i) designing and implementing an User Interface (UI) using Unity featuring 3D virtual clients representing individuals with physical disabilities, bodily discomforts, and psychosocial disturbances, paired with a chatbot interface for interactive questions-and-answers; (ii) developing a brief empathy training program incorporating AI-generated virtual clients into traditional teaching methods, including didactic lectures, skills rehearsal, mindfulness-based training, and practice with AI-generated virtual clients; and (iii) assessing the impact of this training program on the empathetic attitude, empathetic communication skills, and cognitive flexibility of healthcare students.
Eligibility
Inclusion Criteria5
- undergraduate students enrolled in a healthcare-related program
- no previous experience with empathy-related training
- no previous experience working in healthcare settings
- age 18 years or above
- native Chinese speakers.
Exclusion Criteria1
- \- are or were the main carers of people who are disabled or chronically ill because empathy may be promoted through experience.
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Interventions
Participants in the intervention group will undertake two sessions, each lasting four hours, of empathy training over a one-week period with group size of 6 to 8 participants. The empathy training will base on our newly developed protocol, including: (i) didactic lectures; (ii) practical skills demonstration and role-play, (iii) a mindfulness-based training; and (iv) practice of empathic skills in two different randomly selected scenarios with feedback from the AI system. Each participants will encounter different scenarios that simulate diverse clinical challenges.
Locations(1)
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NCT07320365