Background:
Empathy plays an important role in the relationships between healthcare providers and cancer patients, and its development has become a focus in education and training (Krishnasamy et al., 2023). Reports of decreases in empathy throughout student education and in professional practice have been observed (Nunes et al., 2011; Yu et al., 2023), and research on interventions to address this issue remains limited across various healthcare disciplines that engage with those of a lived experience of cancer.
Aim:
This study explores how different delivery methods of a lived experience of a cancer narrative impacts self-reported levels of empathy in tertiary-healthcare students using the ‘Jefferson Scale of Empathy – Healthcare Provider Student’ (JSE-HPS).
Method:
A randomised controlled trial placed 48 healthcare students in two groups of narrative delivery, in-person and digital. Students were provided the same presentation from a cancer survivor. The JSE-HPS was completed pre and post-session, with a reflection exercise completed immediately following the delivery of the cancer narrative. Pre and Post-JSE scores were analysed along with thematic analysis of participant reflections.
Conclusion:
Results of an ANCOVA suggested a significant effect of lived experience narratives increasing empathy scores for all participants (F=21.54, p<0.001). The delivery method of the stories was also suggested to be significant (F=5.51, p=0.02), with an estimated marginal means test indicating that the in-person intervention led to higher empathy scores compared to the digital intervention (p =0.043) after controlling for baseline empathy levels.
These results provide preliminary evidence that the delivery of stories from those with a lived experience of cancer positively influences student empathy levels. The way in which the stories are delivered can also play a significant role in fostering empathy among students, with in-person delivery demonstrating more effectiveness over digital formats. Further research with larger samples is needed to confirm these effects, and longitudinal studies should explore the long-term changes.