Empathy Training for Healthcare Professional Students

NCT07320365 | Recruiting

• 1 other identifier: REC Reference No:HE-T&L2025/02
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 108
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief 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.

Conditions

Empathy Training of Healthcare Professional Students

Keywords

Empathy; AI-generated virtual clients

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Interpersonal Reactivity Index

  The Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) will be used to assess self-reported empathetic attitude. IRI consists of 4 subscale with 28 items rating on a 5 - point Likert scale (0 - 4). Score ranges from 0 - 112, higher score means better empathy.

  Baseline assessment (prior to any training), (ii) immediate post-training assessment (immediately after the final training session, end of week 1), and (iii) 1-month follow-up assessment (approximately 4 weeks after the final training session).

Secondary Outcomes (2)

• Consultation and Relational Empathy

  Baseline assessment (prior to any training), (ii) immediate post-training assessment (immediately after the final training session, end of week 1), and (iii) 1-month follow-up assessment (approximately 4 weeks after the final training session).

• Cognitive Flexibility Inventory

  Baseline assessment (prior to any training), (ii) immediate post-training assessment (immediately after the final training session, end of week 1), and (iii) 1-month follow-up assessment (approximately 4 weeks after the final training session).

Study Arms (2)

Control

NO INTERVENTION

Intervention

EXPERIMENTAL

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 first training session consists of a 4-hour didactic component focused on empathy frameworks and communication strategies. The second training session includes a 2-hour mindfulness training component followed by a 2-hour AI demonstration and practice component where participants engage with virtual client scenarios.

Other: Empathy training

Interventions

Empathy training OTHER

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.

Intervention

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years+
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• 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.

You may not qualify if:

• \- are or were the main carers of people who are disabled or chronically ill because empathy may be promoted through experience.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Hong Kong Metropolitan University: lead

Study Sites (1)

Hong Kong Metropolitan University

Ho Man Tin, Kowloon, Hong Kong

RECRUITING

Study Officials

• Tai Wa Liu, PhD

  Hong Kong Metropolitan University

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: SINGLE
• Who Masked: OUTCOMES ASSESSOR
• Purpose: OTHER
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Associate Professor

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: December 12, 2025
• First Posted: January 6, 2026
• Study Start: February 1, 2026
• Primary Completion (Estimated): December 1, 2026
• Study Completion (Estimated): December 1, 2026
• Last Updated: April 13, 2026

Record last verified: 2026-04

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will share

Locations

HK (1)