Sensory Restriction Simulation Training for Nursing Student Empathy and Communication

Overview

This study evaluates the effect of the Reality-Integrated Quality Education (GENE) approach, an educational intervention using sensory restriction simulations (vision, hearing, speech, and movement restriction), on empathy, communication skills, patience, psychological resilience, and patient-centered care competency among third-year nursing students. Sixty nursing students will be randomly allocated to an experimental group (n=30), who will complete a single 30-45 minute GENE simulation session, or a control group (n=30), who will receive standard theoretical empathy education without the simulation component. Outcomes will be assessed immediately before and after the session using the Turkish versions of the Jefferson Scale of Empathy - Nursing Student (JSE-NS), a Communication Skills Inventory, a Patience Scale, the Brief Resilience Scale, and a Patient-Centered Care Competency Scale. The investigators hypothesize that participation in the GENE sensory restriction simulations will produce greater short-term gains in empathy, communication, patience, resilience, and patient-centered care competency than theoretical education alone.

Empathy, effective communication, and patient-centered care are core competencies for nursing practice, and are traditionally taught through classroom-based theoretical instruction. Sensory restriction simulation is proposed as an experiential teaching strategy in which learners temporarily experience a restriction analogous to a patient's sensory or functional limitation, with the aim of building experiential understanding rather than only conceptual knowledge. This study uses a quasi-experimental, randomized, pretest-posttest, parallel-group design to evaluate the Reality-Integrated Quality Education (GENE) approach in a single center: the Nursing Department of Agri Ibrahim Cecen University. A pool of 60 third-year nursing students will be randomly allocated to an experimental group (n=30) or a control group (n=30). The experimental group will complete the GENE model, a four-stage sensory restriction simulation sequence lasting approximately 30-45 minutes in total, comprising sequential simulated restriction of vision, hearing, speech, and movement, each paired with simulated patient-care tasks and structured post-simulation debriefing and feedback (recorded via a post-simulation feedback form). The control group will receive standard theoretical education on empathy and patient-centered care without the simulation component. This is an educational/behavioral intervention rather than a drug, biologic, or device intervention; the study's primary purpose is therefore classified as "Other" (educational intervention effectiveness) rather than treatment, prevention, diagnostic, or supportive care. Primary and secondary outcomes are assessed once before and once after the session (same day) using the following instruments, all administered in their validated Turkish-language versions: the Jefferson Scale of Empathy - Nursing Student (JSE-NS) for empathy; a Communication Skills Inventory; a Patience Scale; the Brief Resilience Scale; and a Patient-Centered Care Competency Scale (HMBYO). An application/intake form (Participant Introduction Form) is used to record participant demographic and background characteristics before randomization. Planned statistical analysis will use SPSS (version 29). Normality of distributions will be assessed with the Shapiro-Wilk test. Depending on distributional assumptions, within-group pre-post changes and between-group (experimental vs. control) comparisons will be analyzed using repeated-measures ANOVA or, for non-normally distributed data, the Wilcoxon signed-rank test and Mann-Whitney U test, with Bonferroni correction applied for multiple comparisons. Effect sizes will be calculated and reported alongside p-values.