Empathy education in post-graduate nurses: An integrative review.

AIM: This study reviews the outcomes of programmes teaching empathy to post-graduate nurses. BACKGROUND: Nurses who are able to empathise with their patients, place themselves within a preferred position to deliver better patient outcomes. There have been substantial efforts to improve the empathy skill level of undergraduate nursing students, with success but understanding this skill level at the post graduate level is limited. DESIGN: An integrated literature review of the qualitative and quantitative literature on nurse post graduate education programmes over the last 10 years was conducted. DATA SOURCES: CINAHL, Medline, Psych-Info, Google Scholar and hand searching of reference lists of relevant papers were used. REVIEW METHODS: The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) statement and the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool (MMAT) was used for quality appraisal. RESULTS: The review includes nine quantitative non randomised studies and one qualitative study. The findings suggest that empathy skills in post graduate nurses can be improved, but given the variation in the operational definition of empathy used, range in frequency and length of training and speciality specific requirements further work is needed to understand the use of 'empathy' in the post graduate nurse. CONCLUSION: Future non university based or 'in house' empathy education in nursing should focus on the post graduate nurse and the needs of their clinical specialties.

Suicide prevention: A qualitative study with Thai secondary school students.

Background: Suicide is the second leading cause of death among adolescents around the globe. Therefore, understanding its causes and prevention is needed. Objective: This study aimed to explore Thai secondary school students' perceptions related to causes and preventions of suicide and the learning needs of suicide prevention. Methods: A descriptive qualitative approach was employed in this study. Purposive sampling was used to select 32 adolescents for focus group discussions and ten adolescents for in-depth interviews. Data were collected from September 2019 to March 2020 and analyzed using content analysis. Results: Causes of suicide included seven sub-categories: parents' expectations of children's academic achievement, bullying, family problems, teenage love, lack of stress management skill, imitation behavior on social media, and substance use behavior. Suicide prevention consisted of five sub-categories: peer support, parental support, school support, health professionals and significant support, and knowing the value and believing in self. In addition, students' learning needs had two sub-categories: developing online learning platforms regarding suicide prevention and mental health promotion and prevention projects. Conclusion: The findings of this study could guide nurses and other health professionals to develop a suicide prevention program for secondary school students. The study results could also be used as essential evidence for driving health care policy in promoting and preventing suicide in adolescents with the involvement of key stakeholders.