An undergraduate course on pain: Its impact on students' empathy

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Empathy towards patients in pain involves an internal process in which both affective and cognitive processes in the observer are responsible for a final behavioral reaction. This study investigated the impact of an undergraduate elective course on pain on students' empathy in a mixed-method design. METHODS: Undergraduate students of the elective course on pain (intervention group) as well as undergraduate students of a compulsory course on neuropharmacology (control group) completed the Dutch version of the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) questionnaire at the beginning and the end of the course. In addition, students' empathy in the intervention group was explored by content analysis of students' reflective writing assignments related to documentary films that were part of the course activities. RESULTS: Twenty students (intervention group) and seven students (control group) completed both IRI questionnaires. IRI scores for subscales perspective taking, fantasy, and personal distress significantly increased over time more in the intervention group than in the control group (intervention x time interaction). Effect sizes (generalized eta squared) for these effects were 0.084, 0.041, and 0.139 for perspective taking, fantasy, and personal distress, respectively. The qualitative data revealed information on cognitive and affective responses, and to some extent behavioral responses. CONCLUSIONS: Both IRI outcomes and analysis of the reflective assignments demonstrate that students' empathy increased during the course on pain. Further research should explore in-depth the effects of different documentaries in the course on students' empathy development and the long-term effect of the course on students' empathy.