NCT07044492

Effect of Empathy-Based Program on Nursing Assistants in Long-term Care Facilities

Active, enrolled NA Results posted Last updated 25 February 2026

What this trial tests

NA trial testing Virtual Reality (VR) with Debriefing in Long-Term Care in 103 participants. Participants enrolled and being followed up; not accepting new ones.

Timeline

10 November 2025

Primary endpoint
31 December 2026

31 December 2026

Quick facts

Lead sponsor	Taipei Medical University
Phase	NA
Status	Active, enrolled
Study type	INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation	randomized
Design	parallel
Masking	single
Primary purpose	treatment
Enrollment	103
Start date	10 November 2025
Primary completion	31 December 2026
Estimated completion	31 December 2026
Sites	1 location across Taiwan

Drugs / interventions tested

• Virtual Reality (VR) with Debriefing

Conditions studied

• Long-Term Care — all drugs for Long-Term Care →
• Long-term Care Facility — all drugs for Long-term Care Facility →

Sponsor

Taipei Medical University

Who can join

20 and older, any sex, with Long-Term Care or Long-term Care Facility. Patients with the condition only — healthy volunteers not accepted.

Results — posted to ClinicalTrials.gov

Per-arm endpoint measurements with 95% confidence intervals where reported. Source: trial results section.

Attitudes Toward Older People Secondary · Baseline (pre-intervention), end of intervention (week 3), and follow-up at one month post-intervention (week 7)

This study will use the Chinese version of the Kogan's Attitudes toward Older People (KAOP) Scale, translated and validated by Yeh et al. (2009), to assess participants' attitudes toward older adults. The KAOP consists of 34 items, including 17 positively worded and 17 negatively worded statements. Each item is rated on a 7-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree). Negatively worded items are reverse-coded before computing the total score. The possible total score ranges from 34 to 238, with higher scores indicating more positive attitudes toward older people

Baseline（T0）

Group	Value	95% CI
Control Group (C)	135.70	± 14.84
Virtual Reality (VR) With Debriefing Group	138.70	± 11.96

End of intervention - week 3（T1）

Group	Value	95% CI
Control Group (C)	140.28	± 16.14
Virtual Reality (VR) With Debriefing Group	144.66	± 16.20

Follow-up - week 7（T2）

Group	Value	95% CI
Control Group (C)	142.06	± 15.90
Virtual Reality (VR) With Debriefing Group	142.00	± 16.74

Empathy Level Primary · Baseline (pre-intervention), end of intervention (week 3), and follow-up at one month post-intervention (week 7)

This study will use the 20-item version of the Jefferson Scale of Empathy-Health Professions version (JSE-HP). The scale has 20 items scored on a 7-point Likert scale, ranging from 1 (minimum) to 7 (maximum), with a total score between 20 and 140. Higher scores indicate greater empathy level among nursing assistants.

Baseline (pre-intervention)

Group	Value	95% CI
Control Group (C)	96.66	± 14.29
Virtual Reality (VR) With Debriefing Group	100.83	± 14.00

End of intervention (week 3)

Group	Value	95% CI
Control Group (C)	99.20	± 14.38
Virtual Reality (VR) With Debriefing Group	111.51	± 12.50

Follow-up at one month post-intervention (week 7, T2)

Group	Value	95% CI
Control Group (C)	97.46	± 13.85
Virtual Reality (VR) With Debriefing Group	104.47	± 16.67

Empathic Behavior Secondary · Baseline (pre-intervention), end of intervention (week 3), and follow-up at one month post-intervention (week 7)

This study will use a 12-item Empathic Behavior Scale developed by the researchers based on a review of relevant literature. The scale is designed to assess the frequency of empathic behaviors performed by nursing assistants in various caregiving scenarios. Each item presents a specific situation, and participants are asked to indicate how frequently they perform the described empathic behavior using a 7-point Likert scale, ranging from 1 (never able to perform) to 7 (always able to perform). Total scores range from 12 to 84, with higher scores indicating more frequent engagement in empathic b

Baseline（T0 ）

Group	Value	95% CI
Control Group (C)	66.80	± 8.95
Virtual Reality (VR) With Debriefing Group	65.75	± 10.59

End of intervention (week 3)

Group	Value	95% CI
Control Group (C)	68.44	± 9.46
Virtual Reality (VR) With Debriefing Group	69.81	± 9.05

Follow-up at one month post-intervention (week 7, T2)

Group	Value	95% CI
Control Group (C)	66.32	± 8.91
Virtual Reality (VR) With Debriefing Group	67.02	± 8.80

Sponsor's own description

This randomized controlled trial aims to explore the impact of an Empathy-Based Program on the level of empathy among nursing assistants in a long-term care facility. A total of 100 participants will be divided into two groups: a virtual reality (VR) with debriefing group, and a control group (C) receiving routine care. The intervention involves a weekly 5-minute VR session featuring immersive experiences of residents' lives within the facility, followed by a 25-minute debriefing discussion in small groups of 5\~6 participants. This will continue for three weeks. The study will evaluate the effectiveness of the empathy program in enhancing nursing assistants' empathy levels, with data collection occurring at three time points: baseline, post-intervention, and one-month follow-up.

Publications & conference data

No peer-reviewed publications indexed yet for this trial.