Can teaching serious illness communication skills foster multidimensional empathy? A mixed-methods study

BACKGROUND: To investigate the impact of a serious illness communication skills training course on medical students’ attitudes regarding clinical empathy, self-efficacy in empathic communication, and learning on different dimensions of empathy. METHODS: A mixed-methods design was used. A blended learning Serious Illness Communication Skills Training (SI-CST) course was delivered to sixth-year medical students. Students (n=185) completed questionnaires with the 20-item Jefferson Scale of Empathy (JSE) and self-rated preparedness level for five empathic communication tasks at baseline (T1), six weeks (T2), and three-to-six months post-training (T3). Written reflections on key lessons learned were analyzed using inductive thematic analysis. RESULTS: Total JSE scores significantly improved from T1 to T2 (111.4 vs 113.9, P=.01) and from T1 to T3 (111.4 vs 113.9, P=.01). There was an increase in Standing in Patient’s Shoes subscale of the JSE with an effect size of 0.56 whereas the Perspective-Taking and Compassionate Care subscales showed no significant changes. Self-rated preparedness for all five empathic communication tasks significantly improved from T1 to T2 (P ≤ .001) and from T1 to T3 (P ≤ .001) with large effect sizes (1.09-1.41). Four key themes emerged from the qualitative analysis. They were appreciating the important role of empathy in clinical care (moral empathy), learning skills in detecting and understanding patient emotions (cognitive empathy), learning skills in responding to emotion with empathy (behavioral empathy), and appreciating that communication skills can be improved with continual practice and self-reflection. CONCLUSIONS: Our results revealed that SI-CST improved medical students’ empathic attitudes and self-efficacy in empathic communication. Qualitative results found learning on the cognitive, behavioral and moral dimensions of empathy. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12909-023-04010-z.