Title: Teaching Tools to Improve the Development of Empathy in Service-Learning Students
DOI or Website Link:
Publication:
Authors: Robin S. Everhart
Date: 2016
Affiliation(s):
Citation:
Comments:
Abstract:
Students participating in service-learning classes experience many benefits, including cognitive development, personal growth, and civic engagement. Student development of empathy is an understudied area, especially with respect to how students develop empathy through interactions in their service-learning placements?
This article describes a project designed to pilot teaching tools (e.g., self-assessment, reflective writing) related to empathy development in 12 undergraduate students. This study examined changes in level of student empathy across the semester, critical incidents linked to such changes, factors that enhanced or challenged empathy development, and student metacognition related to empathy.
Findings suggest that certain experiences, such as observing the emotional experiences of others or being given more responsibility at a community site, might prompt changes in level of empathy for service-learning students. Strategies for integrating findings from this pilot project into other service-learning courses and future directions for empathy research are also described.
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Topic Area: (In which field / sector / perspective was this study conducted?)
education
"One area within service-learning research that has not gained much attention is the impact of service-learning on the development of empathy within students and, specifically, the process by which students develop empathy through service-learning."
Definition: (How was empathy defined?)
"Empathy is defined as “the ability to walk in another’s shoes, to escape one’s own responses and reactions so as to grasp another’s” (Wiggins & McTighe, 2005, p. 98)."
Benefits: (Were any benefits of empathy mentioned?)
Criticisms (Were any criticisms, negative effects or risks of empathy mentioned?)
Methods: (What were the methods used to train empathy?)
Target Group: (Who participated in this study / training?)
Students
Measurements: (About the assessment: How was the change in empathy measured before/after the intervention/method?)
students were asked to determine their current level of empathy (shock, normalization, engagement).
self-assessment of empathy by writing a paper
reflective writing
Result: (What was the result?)
"Service-learning courses provide an ideal platform for students to develop empathy as they allow students to participate in an organized service activity that meets identified community needs (Bringle & Hatcher, 1996)."
"Through this process, students develop empathy; they move toward viewing others as more similar to themselves and improve their ability to place themselves in the position of others."
"All 12 students in this project experienced improvements in their level of empathy at some point in the semester, as demonstrated by the percentage of reflections describing an increase in empathy."
Posted By: Edwin Rutsch
Notes: (Any other relevant information)
other studies to check
'As noted, a handful of studies have evaluated empathy as a student outcome in service-learning courses.'
'one study, dental students reported increased empathy for the needs and situations of patients after providing dental services in community-based settings (e.g., community health center, nursing home; Mofidi et al., 2003).
In a marriage and family class, students participated in either a service-learning project or a book discussion project; students completing the service-learning assignment were more likely to express empathy in their reflective writing than those students that participated in the book discussion project (Wilson, 2011).
undergraduate nursing course, students described developing empathy for the daily struggles facing families by working with individuals who were different from themselves (Hunt, 2007).
In a lifespan development course (Lundy, 2007), students who chose to complete a service-learning project demonstrated a significant increase in emotional empathy, as measured by the Emotional Empathetic Tendency Scale (Mehrabian & Epstein, 1972), compared to students who chose other project options (e.g., interview project, research paper).
Finally, feelings of empathy were reported in a group of baccalaureate nursing students who worked at a camp for children with diabetes (Vogt, Chavez, & Schaffner, 2011).'
References:
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