The Development of Empathy in nursing students using the Contemplative Education

Abstract

This study was the quasi-experimental research consisted of one group as a pre and post-test group. The purpose of this research was to investigate the effects of the contemplative education on the empathy score, in course of teaching and health counseling in Phrapokklao Nursing College, Chanthaburi. The participants were the 131 second-year nursing students. The 30 hours of contemplative activities were incorporated in the experimental part of this course. The experimental part consisted of 30 hours of the contemplative activities. The empathy measurement tool and the interview were used in this study. The quantitative data was analyzed by using Mann-Whitney U test, whereas the content analysis was used for analyzing the qualitative data. In this study, the empathy scores of the participants were statistically significant increasing after using the contemplative activities (P<.001) From the interview, the data showed that all contemplative activities can enhance the empathy in the participants. The inner side of themselves was transformed. Moreover, their selfawareness, consciousness, emotional Intelligence, self-control and the interpersonal relationship were increased. The interpersonal conflict was declined, resulting in the improvement of the deep listening skill and the higher empathy.