ReviewBMC medical education2021
What works for whom in compassion training programs offered to practicing healthcare providers: a realist review.
Review in BMC medical education, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 32 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
32 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- The efficacy of compassion and self-compassion training programs for healthcare university students: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC medical education · 2026Pooled it
- Empathy training in healthcare: an umbrella review.BMC medical education · 2025Pooled it
- The impact of compassion-based interventions on perioperative anxiety and depression: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Journal of affective disorders · 2024Pooled it
- Caregivers' Views of a Pediatric Inpatient Intervention to Address Health-Related Social Risks.Hospital pediatrics · 2025Trial
- Mindfulness and compassion training on daily work with patients and within the multiprofessional palliative care team: a retrospective self-assessment study.BMC palliative care · 2023Trial
- From 'Little Things' to 'Seagulls': A Mixed Methods Exploration of Patients' Experiences of Person-Centred Compassionate Care in General Medical and Surgical Wards.Health expectations : an international journal of public participation in health care and health policy · 2026Article
- Recommendations from the Spanish Society of Medical Oncology to advance the humanization in cancer care.Clinical & translational oncology : official publication of the Federation of Spanish Oncology Societies and of the National Cancer Institute of Mexico · 2026Review
- Article
- A feasibility study of an Evidence-informed, Competency-based, Accredited, Compassion Training (EnACT) program.BMC medical education · 2026Article
- The belief in a just world and empathy in nursing students: the role of self-esteem.BMC nursing · 2026Article
- Relationship between hospitalised patients' perceptions of individualised and compassionate nursing care: a cross-sectional study.BMC nursing · 2026Article
- Compassionate primary care training and practice in the digital technology sphere: a scoping review protocol.Canadian medical education journal · 2025Article
- Nursing staff's experiences and perspectives on end-of-life care in South Korean long-term care facilities: a qualitative study.BMC nursing · 2025Article
- Identifying physicians' views on compassionate care in daily clinical practice: a multicentre Q-methodology study in Belgium.BMJ open · 2025Article
- Having a More Compassionate Doctor Does Not Mean Patients Will Feel More Cared for: An Empirical Study.Journal of general internal medicine · 2025Article
- Development of a training programme to improve health literacy and respectful compassionate care competencies among undergraduate student nurses: a quantitative study.BMC medical education · 2025Article
- Enhancing compassion in medical education - a comparative study of the efficacy of clinical clerkships versus simulation-based training methodologies.BMC medical education · 2025Article
- A systematic realist synthesis of digital interventions for enhancing mental health at work: contexts, mechanisms, and outcomes.International journal of mental health systems · 2025Review
- A qualitative investigation of social service workers' experiences with compassion training in the workplace.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Article
- Using Positive Deviance to Enhance HIV Care Retention in South Africa: Development of a Compassion-Focused Programme to Improve the Staff and Patient Experience.Research square · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundPatients and families want their healthcare to be delivered by healthcare providers that are both competent and compassionate. While compassion training has begun to emerge in healthcare education, there may be factors that facilitate or inhibit the uptake and implementation of training into practice. This review identified the attributes that explain the successes and/or failures of compassion training programs offered to practicing healthcare providers.
methodsRealist review methodology for knowledge synthesis was used to consider the contexts, mechanisms (resources and reasoning), and outcomes of compassion training for practicing healthcare providers to determine what works, for whom, and in what contexts.
resultsTwo thousand nine hundred ninety-one articles underwent title and abstract screening, 53 articles underwent full text review, and data that contributed to the development of a program theory were extracted from 45 articles. Contexts included the clinical setting, healthcare provider characteristics, current state of the healthcare system, and personal factors relevant to individual healthcare providers. Mechanisms included workplace-based programs and participatory interventions that impacted teaching, learning, and the healthcare organization. Contexts were associated with certain mechanisms to effect change in learners' attitudes, knowledge, skills and behaviors and the clinical process.
conclusionsIn conclusion this realist review determined that compassion training may engender compassionate healthcare practice if it becomes a key component of the infrastructure and vision of healthcare organizations, engages institutional participation, improves leadership at all levels, adopts a multimodal approach, and uses valid measures to assess outcomes.
Indexed as
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.