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. 2025 Jul 1;25(1):880.
doi: 10.1186/s12909-025-07490-3.

The impact of reflective practice on the development of nursing undergraduate students

Qing Yang  1 , Wei Zou  2
Affiliations

The impact of reflective practice on the development of nursing undergraduate students

Qing Yang et al. BMC Med Educ. .

Abstract

Background: Empathy and compassionate care are essential competencies for nursing students in their interactions with patients. Reflective practice, which entails contemplating and drawing lessons from past experiences, has the potential to enhance these qualities. This study aims to investigate the influence of reflective practice on the cultivation of empathy and compassion among nursing students.

Methods: This retrospective study targeted undergraduate nursing interns who had been employed for less than six months and lacked prior clinical work experience. The research group underwent training in reflection-based practice. Following the implementation of this practice, assessments were conducted to measure the participants’ reflective practice ability, compassion, caring behaviors, and empathy skills.

Results: Compared to the non-reflective practice group, the reflective practice group exhibited higher scores in terms of understanding, patience, perseverance, openness to adopting new ideas, emotional nursing skills, and empathy after the training. Additionally, the reflective practice group demonstrated greater compassion.

Conclusion: This retrospective study underscores the substantial impact of reflective practice on the development of empathy and compassion among undergraduate nursing students.

Clinical trial number: Not applicable.

Keywords: Compassion; Empathy; Nursing undergraduate students; Reflective practice.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Ethics approval and consent to participate: This study was approved by the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University Institutional Review Board and Ethics Committee. The procedures were conducted in accordance with the ethical standards set forth by the Committee on Human Experimentation and the Helsinki Declaration of 1964, as revised in 2013. Informed consent was waived for this retrospective study due to the exclusive use of de-identified patient data, which posed no potential harm or impact on patient care. This waiver was approved by the Institutional Review Board and Ethics Committee in accordance with regulatory and ethical guidelines pertaining to retrospective research studies. Consent for publication: Not applicable. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
(A) Comparison of reflective practice ability of patients between two groups. Reflective practice ability between the two groups at baseline. Reflective practice ability between the two groups after the reflective practice cultivation. (B) Evaluation of compassion Upon graduation, including compassion experience, sympathetic understanding and compassion act. (C) Comparison of Caring Behavior Inventory (CAI) between two groups, including understanding, patience and action perseverance. (D) Empathy ability score at graduation, including ideas adoption, emotional nursing and think in other’s shoes. *P < 0.05, ns means P > 0.05
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