AI-Based Communication Simulation and Human Library Narratives.

Pediatric Nursing Education Integrating AI-Based Communication Simulation and Human Library Narratives: Evaluating Effects on Students' Communication, Empathy, and Emotion Regulation

This research plan aims to establish an effectiveness assessment system for promoting clinical communication, empathy, and emotion regulation in pediatric nursing students through a combination of AI communication simulation and human library narrative.

This study sets five specific objectives:

1. To develop and implement a pediatric nursing teaching model that integrates AI communication simulation and human library narrative.
2. To evaluate the effectiveness of this teaching model in improving nursing students' clinical communication skills.
3. To examine the effectiveness of this teaching intervention in enhancing nursing students' empathy.
4. To explore the impact of this teaching intervention on nursing students' emotion regulation abilities.
5. To understand students' learning experiences, feelings, changes in emotion regulation, and suggestions for improvement regarding this integrated teaching intervention.

Study Overview

• Status: Recruiting
• Conditions: Emotion Regulation; Empathy; Nursing Students; AI (Artificial Intelligence)
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Traditional pediatric nursing teaching; Behavioral: Integrating AI-Based Communication Simulation and Human Library Narratives

Detailed Description

Background and Purpose: Although clinical communication skills are taught in the classroom, students generally report that "what they learn in class is difficult to apply to clinical situations," indicating a significant gap between learning and application. This phenomenon aligns with recent research indicating that traditional lectures and simple role-playing are insufficient to cultivate communication skills transferable to real clinical settings. When faced with crying patients, anxious family members asking questions, or unexpected clinical situations, students often fail to effectively apply what they have learned due to nervousness, highlighting the need for a more realistic and repetitive teaching model. Currently, nursing students are mostly from Generation Z, whose learning characteristics include high digital sensitivity, a preference for interactive and visual learning materials, and relatively limited attention span for one-way lectures. Therefore, how to enhance learning engagement through innovative and immersive teaching strategies has become an important issue in nursing education.

The proposed study has five specific aims:

1. To develop and implement a pediatric nursing teaching model that integrates AI communication simulation and human library narratives.
2. To evaluate the effectiveness of this teaching model in promoting nursing students' clinical communication skills.
3. To examine the effectiveness of this teaching intervention in enhancing nursing students' empathy.
4. To explore the impact of this teaching intervention on nursing students' emotion regulation abilities.
5. To understand students' learning experiences, feelings, emotion regulation changes, and improvement suggestions regarding this integrated teaching intervention.

Methods: A randomized controlled design was used: the control group received traditional pediatric nursing education; the experimental group received an innovative teaching model integrating "AI communication simulation combined with human library narratives," although the experimental group received different models due to course schedule and teaching environment arrangements. A mixed-methods approach was used for data collection, combining quantitative and qualitative data to comprehensively understand students' ability changes and learning processes. Quantitative data were collected using structured questionnaires, including: a basic information questionnaire, a communication skills scale, the Jefferson Empathy Scale, AI dialogue record analysis data, and an emotion regulation questionnaire. Qualitative data were collected through 5R structured reflections and focus group interviews to comprehensively present the effectiveness of the integrated teaching intervention on nursing students' clinical communication, empathy, and emotion regulation abilities.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Estimated): 40
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

• Study Contact: Name: Hsiang-Yun Yun Lan, Associate. Prof.; Phone Number: 18781 87923100; Email: shinnylan@gmail.com

Study Locations

• Taiwan
  • Taipei, Taiwan
    • Recruiting
    • National defense medical university
    • Contact: Hsiang-Yun Lan, Asst. Prof.; Phone Number: 18781 87923100; Email: shinnylan@gmail.com

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Adult; Older Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

1. Must be 18 years of age or older
2. Must have completed required nursing courses including Anatomy, Physical Examination and Assessment (with Laboratory), and Basic Nursing (with Internship)
3. Must be willing to participate in the research and agree to complete the relevant questionnaire.

Exclusion Criteria:

1. Individuals with mental illness or cognitive impairment that may affect their participation in the research or the reliability of the data

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Health Services Research
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: Single

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Active Comparator: Traditional pediatric nursing education, based on the current nursing curriculum and internship guid; 1. Classroom lectures covering core pediatric nursing theories and content, such as child development stages, common disease care, and basic communication principles. 2. Teacher-guided case discussions and problem-oriented learning. 3. Pediatric clinical internships, where clinical instructors guide students in communicating with and caring for sick children and their families, according to the internship objectives.	Behavioral: Traditional pediatric nursing teaching; The standard teaching method, based on the current nursing curriculum and internship guidelines, includes: 1. Classroom lectures on core theories and content of pediatric nursing, such as: stages of child development, care of common diseases, and basic communication principles. 2. Teacher-guided case discussions and case-based problem-oriented learning. 3. Pediatric clinical internship, where clinical teachers guide students in communicating with and caring for sick children and their families according to the internship objectives. When students take the mid-semester post-test (T1), they have only received the above-mentioned teaching content and have not yet participated in AI communication simulation exercises or the human library narrative activity course.
Experimental: Integrating AI-Based Communication Simulation and Human Library Narratives	Behavioral: Integrating AI-Based Communication Simulation and Human Library Narratives; The innovative teaching model integrates "AI communication simulation combined with human library narrative," but due to course schedule and teaching venue arrangements.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Communication Skills Scale-T0	This assessment evaluates nursing students' communication performance in doctor-patient interactions. The scale covers eight core communication skills, including: guiding patients and their families in their communication, building positive nurse-patient relationships, using verbal and nonverbal skills, clearly conveying key points, active listening, recognizing and responding to emotions, providing appropriate health guidance, and presenting information in a structured manner. The scale uses a five-point Likert scale, ranging from 1 point for "strongly disagree" to 5 points for "strongly agree," with a total score between 8 and 40. Higher scores indicate better communication skills.	At the beginning of the semester (Baseline)
Communication Skills Scale-T1	Description: This assessment evaluates nursing students' communication performance in doctor-patient interactions. The scale covers eight core communication skills, including: guiding patients and their families in their communication, building positive nurse-patient relationships, using verbal and nonverbal skills, clearly conveying key points, active listening, recognizing and responding to emotions, providing appropriate health guidance, and presenting information in a structured manner. The scale uses a five-point Likert scale, ranging from 1 point for "strongly disagree" to 5 points for "strongly agree," with a total score between 8 and 40. Higher scores indicate better communication skills.	8-9 Weeks
Communication Skills Scale-T2	Description: This assessment evaluates nursing students' communication performance in doctor-patient interactions. The scale covers eight core communication skills, including: guiding patients and their families in their communication, building positive nurse-patient relationships, using verbal and nonverbal skills, clearly conveying key points, active listening, recognizing and responding to emotions, providing appropriate health guidance, and presenting information in a structured manner. The scale uses a five-point Likert scale, ranging from 1 point for "strongly disagree" to 5 points for "strongly agree," with a total score between 8 and 40. Higher scores indicate better communication skills.	18 Weeks
Jefferson Empathy Scale (Chinese Version - Health Professional Student Edition)-T0	This study measures nursing students' level of empathy in clinical settings. The scale includes three dimensions: perspective-taking, emotional care, and putting oneself in another's shoes. The scale comprises three dimensions: perspective-taking, emotional concern, and empathy, totaling 20 items, 10 of which are reverse-scored. It uses a seven-point Likert scale (1 = strongly disagree, 7 = strongly agree), with a total score of 20-140. Higher scores indicate better empathy.	At the beginning of the semester (Baseline)
Jefferson Empathy Scale (Chinese Version - Health Professional Student Edition)-T1	This study measures nursing students' level of empathy in clinical settings. The scale includes three dimensions: perspective-taking, emotional care, and putting oneself in another's shoes. The scale comprises three dimensions: perspective-taking, emotional concern, and empathy, totaling 20 items, 10 of which are reverse-scored. It uses a seven-point Likert scale (1 = strongly disagree, 7 = strongly agree), with a total score of 20-140. Higher scores indicate better empathy.	8-9 Weeks
Jefferson Empathy Scale (Chinese Version - Health Professional Student Edition)-T2	This study measures nursing students' level of empathy in clinical settings. The scale includes three dimensions: perspective-taking, emotional care, and putting oneself in another's shoes. The scale comprises three dimensions: perspective-taking, emotional concern, and empathy, totaling 20 items, 10 of which are reverse-scored. It uses a seven-point Likert scale (1 = strongly disagree, 7 = strongly agree), with a total score of 20-140. Higher scores indicate better empathy.	18 Weeks
Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale-T0	The assessment of nursing students' difficulties in regulating emotions includes six dimensions: insufficient emotional awareness, difficulty in clarifying emotions, inability to accept emotions, difficulty in controlling impulses, obstruction of goal-oriented behavior, and lack of effective emotion regulation strategies. The scale consists of 36 items, comprising six dimensions: insufficient emotional awareness, difficulty in emotional clarification, inability to accept emotions, difficulty in impulse control, obstruction of goal-oriented behavior, and lack of effective emotion regulation strategies. The scale uses a five-point Likert scale (1 = almost never, 5 = almost always). Many items are reversed; after conversion, higher scores indicate greater difficulty in emotion regulation.	At the beginning of the semester (Baseline)
Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale-T1	The assessment of nursing students' difficulties in regulating emotions includes six dimensions: insufficient emotional awareness, difficulty in clarifying emotions, inability to accept emotions, difficulty in controlling impulses, obstruction of goal-oriented behavior, and lack of effective emotion regulation strategies. The scale consists of 36 items, covering six dimensions: insufficient emotional awareness, difficulty in emotional clarification, inability to accept emotions, difficulty in impulse control, obstruction of goal-oriented behavior, and lack of effective emotion regulation strategies. The scale uses a five-point Likert scale (1 = almost never, 5 = almost always). Many items are reversed; after conversion, higher scores indicate greater difficulty in emotion regulation.	8-9 Weeks
Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale-T2	The assessment of nursing students' difficulties in regulating emotions includes six dimensions: insufficient emotional awareness, difficulty in clarifying emotions, inability to accept emotions, difficulty in controlling impulses, obstruction of goal-oriented behavior, and lack of effective emotion regulation strategies. The scale consists of 36 items, covering six dimensions: insufficient emotional awareness, difficulty in emotional clarification, inability to accept emotions, difficulty in impulse control, obstruction of goal-oriented behavior, and lack of effective emotion regulation strategies. The scale uses a five-point Likert scale (1 = almost never, 5 = almost always). Many items are reversed; after conversion, higher scores indicate greater difficulty in emotion regulation.	18 Weeks
5R Structured Reflection	The 5R model provides a clear, phased framework for reflection, helping students transform experiences into learning insights. The 5R structured reflective writing model includes: event description, personal emotional and behavioral reactions, understanding and reasons behind the behavior, connections to past experiences or knowledge, and improvement strategies for future situations. This sequential framework helps students deepen their understanding of situations, become aware of their own emotional reactions, and promote reflection and adjustment of clinical communication behaviors.	18 Weeks

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Focus Group Interviews	To gain a deeper understanding of the changes in students' learning experiences, feelings, empathy, and emotional regulation abilities related to the teaching intervention in this study-"AI Communication Simulation and Human Library Narrative"-this study employed focus group interviews as one of the qualitative data collection tools. This was done to supplement the deep learning experiences that quantitative data could not present and to serve as an important basis for optimizing teaching models.	18 Weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: National Defense Medical University, Taiwan
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Hsiang-Yun Lan, Asst. Prof., National defense medical university

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Estimated): August 1, 2026
• Primary Completion (Estimated): July 31, 2027
• Study Completion (Estimated): July 31, 2027

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: May 26, 2026
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: June 4, 2026
• First Posted (Actual): June 9, 2026

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): June 9, 2026
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: June 4, 2026
• Last Verified: June 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Emotion Regulation; Empathy; Nursing Students; AI (Artificial Intelligence)
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Behavior; Social Behavior; Self-Control; Emotional Regulation
• Other Study ID Numbers: C202605042

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No