In-person group formats were more effective than online or independent formats for empathy training¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · quant-synthesis r3 · q3 · i2 medium
Currency · newest study 2025 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q3 i2 Format was a statistically significant moderator: in-person group formats (d = 0.66) were more effective than online/independent formats (d = 0.21). → Ngo Hazel 2025

Evidence¶

Ngo Hazel 2025¶

Ngo Hazel, Sokolovic Nina, Hu Julia, Jenkins Jennifer. (2025). A systematic review identifying effective teaching methods and their combinations for increasing empathy in physicians: pairwise and network meta-analysis. BMC Medical Education. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-025-07917-x

q3 · i2 · quant-synthesis · r3

Meta-regression of intervention format in the pairwise meta-analysis (Table 2: format Q = 8.72, p = .03). The article reports "in-person group formats (d = 0.66, 95% CI: 0.50, 0.82) were more effective than interventions with online/independent formats". The authors link this to peer collaboration benefits for interpersonal skills.

"Interventions with in-person group formats (d = 0.66, 95% CI: 0.50, 0.82) were more effective than interventions with online/independent formats (d = 0.21, 95% CI: 0.08, 0.34)."

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• Including didactic teaching is associated with greater intervention effectiveness for teaching empathy to physicians — related
• Behavioural empathy interventions for physicians and medical students improve empathy skills with a moderate pooled effect (d = 0.50) — related
• One-to-one coaching format alone is not a statistically significant predictor of training effect size — related
• An interactive workshop produced higher post-test knowledge scores than an e-learning course of equivalent content among nurses — related
• Performance feedback alone is not a statistically significant predictor of training effect size in group-design studies — related