YouTube storytelling videos to enhance empathy in nursing students in a geriatric course: A quasi-experimental study

Background: You Tubes have been widely used for clinical skills education but quantitative research on You-Tube for empathy learning was limited. Aim: The quasi-experimental study aims to explore nursing students' accessibility and perception of using You-Tube as a learning tool for storytelling and evaluate its effect on empathy learning among nursing students. Methods: Convenience samples were from a tertiary institution involving 93 nursing students enrolled in the YouTube group in the first semester of year 4 study. Another 94 nursing students in the second semester were treated as a control group without YouTube. The Chinese version of the Jefferson Scale of Empathy-Health Professions Students (C-JSE-HPS) was applied to assess the empathy levels of both groups of students before and after the study period. A postintervention survey on students' perception of YouTube as an online and experiential learning tool was administered to the YouTube group. Conclusion: The study results have shown that YouTube storytelling videos can increase student engagement and facilitate deep learning on empathy. Trial registration: NCT04441853 (Retrospectively registered June 24, 2020). (c) 2025 Organization for Associate Degree Nursing. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights are reserved, including those for text and data mining, AI training, and similar technologies.