Nursing students’ experiences of the empathy of their teachers: a qualitative study

The purpose of this study was to describe nursing students’ experiences of empathy of nursing teachers with the emphasis on how experiencing empathy from their teachers influences students, their learning and professional development. This research was a qualitative descriptive study conducted through face-to-face interviews with nursing students. Content analysis was used to analyze the data. The results indicate that the teachers’ empathy towards students and their learning either produces a constructive learning experience and a caring learning environment or obstructs their learning and has negative consequences for a student’s quality of life. Empathy from teachers towards the students when becoming a nurse facilitates professional education and offers potential strength-based learning; on the other hand, it can hinder the learning of correct principles of nursing care and challenges students stay true to their personal principles. The results indicate that empathy has a positive impact on students’ professional development in nursing and their learning environment. Teachers should be strongly encouraged to place a greater emphasis on the principle of empathy and caring in nursing, which would involve having good communication with students.