The effectiveness of digital interventions for enhancing empathy in adults: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.

Camille Y Williams, Qiang Xie, Elvan Muratoglu, Simon B Goldberg

Abstract read

In one paragraph

Article in Current psychology (New Brunswick, N.J.), 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it

0cells of the map it votes in

0citing papers in PubMed

–field-weighted citation impact

1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Camille Y WilliamsDepartment of Counseling Psychology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI USA.ORCID 0000-0002-9324-3014

Qiang XieDepartment of Counseling Psychology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI USA.ORCID 0000-0003-3968-9629

Elvan MuratogluMichigan Medicine, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI USA.

Simon B GoldbergDepartment of Counseling Psychology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI USA.ORCID 0000-0002-6888-0126

Funding

Advancing Resources for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses of Complementary and Integrative Health InterventionsR24AT012845 · NCCIH · BROWN UNIVERSITY · PI Simon B Goldberg, Eric Loucks · 2024 to 2026

$1.8M

Mindfulness training delivered via mobile health to reduce depression and anxietyK23AT010879 · NCCIH · UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON · PI GOLDBERG, SIMON B · 2020 to 2024

$786k

NCCIH NIH HHS K23 AT010879NCCIH NIH HHS R24 AT012845

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The current study examined the effectiveness of digital interventions for enhancing empathy in adults. We conducted a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of interventions compared with non-specific (i.e., not intended to be therapeutic) and active control conditions (i.e., intended to be therapeutic). Across 24 studies, including 26 comparisons ( Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12144-025-08981-8.

Indexed as

EmpathyMeta-analysisRCTSmartphoneSystematic reviewVirtual reality

Identifiers

PMID41716944

DOI10.1007/s12144-025-08981-8

PMCPMC12913337

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata

LicenceCC BY

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Registered trials

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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.