{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,25]],"date-time":"2026-08-25T05:18:41Z","timestamp":1787635121350,"version":"build-2736575974"},"reference-count":60,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,25]],"date-time":"2026-08-25T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1787616000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Med."],"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Introduction<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Empathy has been recognized as a crucial quality for patient-centered care and is associated with improved therapeutic outcomes and greater satisfaction of patients and clinicians. However, empathy may decline over the course of clinical practice, highlighting the need for effective educational interventions.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>The study examined changes in empathic attitude among healthcare professionals participating in the Italian simulation-based Program to Enhance Relational and Communication Skills (PERCS-Italy) across three hospitals in Northern Italy between 2019 and 2024. The Jefferson Scale of Empathy (JSE) was administered to participants before and after attending PERCS-Italy workshops.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      A total of 303 healthcare professionals completed the pre-post training JSE assessments. Empathic attitudes increased significantly after the workshops (\n                      <jats:italic>t<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u202f=\u202f\u22124.72,\n                      <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u202f&amp;lt;\u202f0.001). The observed increase in empathic attitude following participation in PERCS-Italy was similar across gender and clinical discipline. Additionally, an inverse correlation between years of professional experience and empathic attitude was observed.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Discussion<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>The study reinforces the potential value of the PERCS-Italy program in increasing healthcare professionals\u2019 relational qualities, particularly empathy.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fmed.2026.1881591","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,25]],"date-time":"2026-08-25T04:23:00Z","timestamp":1787631780000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Fostering empathy in healthcare: impact of a simulation-based educational program on professionals\u2019 relational skills"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"13","author":[{"given":"Lidia","family":"Borghi","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Health Sciences, University of Milan","place":["Milan, Italy"]},{"name":"Unit of Clinical Psychology, Santi Paolo and Carlo Hospital","place":["Milan, Italy"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Maria Adelaide","family":"Morabito","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Psychology, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart","place":["Milan, Italy"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Elaine C.","family":"Meyer","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Center for Bioethics, Harvard Medical School, Boston Children\u2019s Hospital","place":["Boston, MA, United States"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Philip","family":"Scilio","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Unit of Clinical Psychology, Santi Paolo and Carlo Hospital","place":["Milan, Italy"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Elena","family":"Vegni","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Health Sciences, University of Milan","place":["Milan, Italy"]},{"name":"Unit of Clinical Psychology, Santi Paolo and Carlo Hospital","place":["Milan, Italy"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Giulia","family":"Lamiani","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Health Sciences, University of Milan","place":["Milan, Italy"]},{"name":"Unit of Clinical Psychology, Santi Paolo and Carlo Hospital","place":["Milan, Italy"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,25]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1754","DOI":"10.1097\/ACM.0000000000002427","article-title":"Defining empathy to better teach, measure, and understand its impact","volume":"93","author":"Dohrenwend","year":"2018","journal-title":"Acad Med"},{"key":"ref2","first-page":"184","volume-title":"Psychology: A Study of a Science","author":"Rogers","year":"1959"},{"key":"ref3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"670","DOI":"10.1046\/j.1525-1497.2003.21017.x","article-title":"What is clinical empathy?","volume":"18","author":"Halpern","year":"2003","journal-title":"J Gen Intern Med"},{"key":"ref4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/s44250-023-00020-2","article-title":"Clinical empathy: definition, measurement, correlates, group differences, erosion, enhancement, and healthcare outcomes","volume":"2","author":"Hojat","year":"2023","journal-title":"Discov Health Syst"},{"key":"ref5","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"913","DOI":"10.1001\/archinte.159.9.913","article-title":"Role of the primary care physician in problems of substance abuse","volume":"159","author":"Weaver","year":"1999","journal-title":"Arch Intern Med"},{"key":"ref6","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"22","DOI":"10.1002\/hast.1216","article-title":"Can clinical empathy survive? 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