ArticleEuropean journal of dental education : official journal of the Association for Dental Education in Europe2026
Scoping Literature Review of Digital Empathy Games in Healthcare Education and Training.
Article in European journal of dental education : official journal of the Association for Dental Education in Europe, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers, 1 of them a synthesis 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
2 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Digital compassion fatigue and digital empathy in healthcare: mapping the evidence and informing a human-centered clinical framework.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Pooled it
- Scoping Literature Review of Digital Empathy Games in Healthcare Education and Training.European journal of dental education : official journal of the Association for Dental Education in Europe · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
introductionThe study of serious games and their ability to develop empathy in users is a developing area of research. Empathy is recognised as being important to the practice of patient-centered healthcare and is associated with improved treatment outcomes. Understanding the breadth of information available on the relationship between serious game use and empathy within healthcare education and training may help reveal the suitability of the medium for further refinement in dental education.
methodsA scoping review of the literature was undertaken to find relevant publications. The following databases were searched using keywords related to empathy, games and healthcare: APA PsycInfo, Embase, IEEExplore, Google Scholar, OVID Medline, and Web of Science.
results2587 search results were returned and 21 publications were identified for inclusion in the review. DISCUSSION: Patient experience simulations are a popular method for digital games to show healthcare personnel the lives of their patients, and games can be used to simulate empathic communication in clinical settings. Commercial digital games can be utilised to develop empathy in healthcare trainees, and exposure to violent digital games or playing in an unethical style does not negatively impact the empathy of healthcare trainees. No studies were found related to dental education.
conclusionDigital games have a potential role in increasing the empathy of users in healthcare training and education, but more research is indicated.
Indexed as
Identifiers
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.