Table 4 Overall results for empathy promoting interventions vs. control among health professionals on empathic attitude, knowledge /skills, and on empathic behavior. Results are also presented separately after the inclusion of trials with imputed values. Separate subgroup analyses are shown for experiential and non-experiential interventions, for training specifically for empathy and for training on interpersonal /communication skills, for the type of assessor (external observer, health professional, and patient), and for the type of evaluation process (simulated interview, actual interview, and questionnaire)

Attitude (all)

1 [27]

0.4 (−0.2, 0.1)

0.95

NA

Knowledge /skills (all)

1 [27]

0.8 (0.4, 1.2)

<0.001

NA

Behavior (all)

10 [26–32, 38, 40, 42]

0.7 (0.3, 1.1)

<0.001

76.27

88 % (80 %, 93 %)

Behavior (including studies with imputed values)

13 [26–33, 37, 38, 40–42]

0.8 (0.4, 1.2)

<0.001

132.22

91 % (86 %, 94 %)

Behavior (experiential intervention)

11 [27, 28, 30–33, 37, 38, 40–42]

0.8 (0.3, 1.3)

<0.001

130.44

92 % (88 %, 95 %)

Behavior (non-experiential intervention)

2 [26, 29]

0.7 (0.3, 1,2)

0.001

1.6

NA

Behavior (training specifically for empathy)

1 [27]

0.1 (−0.3, 0.4)

0.15

NA

Behavior (training for communication skills)

12 [26, 28–33, 37, 38, 40–42]

0.9 (0.5, 1.3)

<0.001

111.47

90 % (85 %, 94 %)

Behavior (external observer as assessor)

8 [28, 29, 31–33, 37, 38, 41]

1 (0.4, 1.5)

0.001

84.29

92 % (86 %, 95 %)

Behavior (health professional participant as assessor)

6 [26, 27, 30, 40–42]

0.7 (0.2, 1.3)

0.008

50.15

90 % (81 %, 95 %)

Behavior (patient as assessor)

3 [27, 29, 30]

0.4 (−0.2, 1.2)

0.22

3.27

39 % (0, 81 %)

Behavior (simulated interview as process of evaluation)

3 [28, 33, 38]

0.8 (0.5, 1.1)

<0.001

2.53

21 % (0, 92 %)

Behavior (actual interview as process of evaluation)

5 [29, 32, 37, 38, 41]

1.2 (0.3, 2.1)

0.01

81.41

95 % (91 % 97 %)

Behavior (questionnaire as process of evaluation)

7 [26, 27, 30, 31, 40–42]

0.8 (0.3, 1.3)

0.003

42.31

86 % (73 %, 93 %)