CREATIVE DRAMA-BASED FORGIVENESS TRAINING FOR NURSING STUDENTS

NCT07670481 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: FORGIVE-RCT-2025
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 80
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

Nursing students frequently encounter difficult patient behaviors that may evoke negative emotions such as anger, frustration, and helplessness. Forgiveness may be a useful resource for managing these experiences; however, evidence on effective educational approaches for fostering forgiveness in nursing education is limited. This randomized controlled trial evaluated the effects of creative drama-based and case-based forgiveness education on nursing students' forgiveness of others and self-forgiveness in the context of difficult patient encounters. Eighty fourth-year nursing students were randomly assigned to either a creative drama group or a case-based learning group. Both groups participated in four educational sessions (200 minutes in total). Outcomes were assessed using the Forgiveness of Others Scale and the Self-Forgiveness Scale before and immediately after the intervention.

Conditions

Nursing Students

Keywords

Forgiveness; Difficult Patient; Creative Drama; Case-Based Learning; Nursing Students

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Forgiveness of Others

  Change in Forgiveness of Others Scale (FOS) scores from baseline to immediately after the educational intervention. Forgiveness of Others Scale (FOS): The Forgiveness of Others Scale was developed by Rye (1998) and later revised by Rye et al. (2001) to assess individuals' tendency to forgive others (Rye et al., 2001). The Turkish validity and reliability study of the scale was conducted by Havare and Gizir (2020). The Turkish version consists of 15 items, and items 1, 3, 4, 5, 8, 10, 12, and 14 are reverse scored. Responses are rated on a 5-point Likert-type scale ranging from "strongly disagree (1)" to "strongly agree (5)." Higher scores indicate a greater tendency to forgive others. The Cronbach's α coefficient of the Turkish version was reported as 0.75 (Havare \& Gizir, 2020). In the present study, the Cronbach's α coefficient calculated from the pretest data was 0.77 for the experimental group and 0.81 for the control group.

  Baseline and immediately after completion of the intervention (same day)

Secondary Outcomes (1)

• Self-Forgiveness

  Baseline and immediately after completion of the intervention (same day)

Study Arms (2)

Creative Drama

EXPERIMENTAL

Other: Creative Drama

Case-Based Learning

ACTIVE COMPARATOR

Other: Case-Based Learning

Interventions

Creative Drama OTHER

Participants received creative drama-based forgiveness education focusing on forgiveness of others and self-forgiveness in the context of difficult patient encounters. The intervention consisted of four structured sessions totaling 200 minutes. Educational activities included role-playing, improvisation, perspective-taking, empathy development, and reflection exercises. Students experienced both nurse and difficult patient roles and explored the emotions and unmet needs underlying difficult patient behaviors from multiple perspectives.

Creative Drama

Case-Based Learning OTHER

Participants received case-based forgiveness education focusing on forgiveness of others and self-forgiveness in the context of difficult patient encounters. The intervention consisted of four structured sessions totaling 200 minutes. Difficult patient scenarios were used during the sessions, and students read and analyzed the cases, identified problems, discussed underlying causes and different perspectives, and evaluated potential courses of action.

Case-Based Learning

Eligibility Criteria

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

You may qualify if:

• Fourth-year nursing student enrolled in the nursing department of the study university
• Aged 18 years or older
• Able to speak and understand Turkish
• Not repeating the academic year
• Willing to participate and provided written informed consent

You may not qualify if:

• Refused to participate or withdrew consent
• Did not complete the educational intervention or post-intervention assessments

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Abant Izzet Baysal University: lead

Study Sites (1)

Sivas Cumhuriyet University

Sivas, Sivas, 58600, Turkey (Türkiye)

Location

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: OTHER
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Lütfiye Nur UZUN

Model Details: Participants were randomly assigned in a 1:1 ratio to either a creative drama-based forgiveness education group or a case-based forgiveness education group. Both groups received four structured educational sessions totaling 200 minutes and covering the themes of forgiveness of others and self-forgiveness in the context of difficult patient encounters. Outcomes were assessed before and immediately after the intervention.

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: June 22, 2026
• First Posted: June 26, 2026
• Study Start: April 6, 2025
• Primary Completion: April 6, 2025
• Study Completion: April 6, 2026
• Last Updated: June 29, 2026

Record last verified: 2026-06

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

TU (1)