Validation of an Empathy Film with Health Care Students

Empathy is important for healthcare professionals; however, measuring empathy is difficult. Films have been used to evoke relatively simple emotions such as anger and happiness; however limited evidence exists for emotional complex responses such as empathy. In this randomised cross-over study we explore if a Film Sequence (‘Removed’) (EFS) would evoke a more empathic response than a Control Film Sequence (CFS). Students of a local University of applied science were assigned to one of two experimental conditions (EFS versus CFS) on day one, and the conditions were reversed on day two. Outcome measures were the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) score, Heart Rate Variability (HRV) and the Saarbrucken Personality Questionnaire (SPQ). Wilcoxon signed rank test was used to detect significant differences in the PANAS and HRV, between CFS and EFS. Spearman correlation coefficients calculated the correlations between the outcome measures. Eighteen female participants, median age 23 years old (IQR 20-32), participated in the study. Participants’ emotions were significantly more positively affected by the CFS than the EFS (W=171, p<0.001), whereas the EFS evoked significantly more negative emotions than the CFS (W= 0, p< 0.001). A significant difference in negative effect of the PANAS and HRV were correlated with the SPQ (r=0.55; r=-0.52). This study showed that the EFS was able to evoke an emotional response in young women, which was correlated to empathy. Verification of these results is needed with a larger, more representative sample. The film could be used to evaluate the effectiveness of empathy training in health professions.