Stoneygate Centre for Empathic Healthcare
Professional development and training
The Stoneygate Centre for Empathic Healthcare delivers professional training workshops for healthcare practitioners and educators. The workshops are the result of 20 years of evidence-based theory and will feature interactive group work and action planning. The training is led by enthusiastic, award-winning experts in empathic healthcare and can be tailored to your team or organisation.
In addition to the sessions detailed below, the Centre team are developing new content on the topics of Empathic Leadership and Building Empathy through Creative Writing. If you would like to make an enquiry about the training we offer, or join our mailing list, please contact empathy@leicester.ac.uk.
References
Creating empathic systems
- Kang, E. S., Di Genova, T., Howick, J., and Gottesman, R. (2022). Adding a dose of empathy to healthcare: What can healthcare systems do? Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice, 28(3), 475-482. doi:10.1111/jep.13664 PMID: 35213759
- Howick, J., de Zulueta, P., and Gray, M. (2024). Beyond empathy training for practitioners: Cultivating empathic healthcare systems and leadership. Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice, 30(4), 548-558. doi:10.1111/jep.13970 PMID: 38436621
- Howick, J., Ward, A., Grantham, C., & Bennett-Weston, A. (2024). Enhancing system empathy within a UK Emergency Department: A feasibility interprofessional priority setting exercise. medRxiv. doi:10.1101/2024.04.15.24305826
Evidence-based empathy skills for healthcare practitioners and teams
- Howick, J., Moscrop, A., Mebius, A., Fanshawe, T. R., Lewith, G., Bishop, F. L., Mistiaen, P., Roberts, N. W., Dieninytė, E., Hu, X. Y., Aveyard, P., and Onakpoya, I. J. (2018). Effects of empathic and positive communication in healthcare consultations: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, 111(7), 240–252. doi:10.1177/0141076818769477
- Howick, J., and Bennett-Weston, A. (2025). An empathy definition at last: Exposing the narcissism of small differences. British Journal of General Practice, 75(751), 74. doi:10.3399/bjgp25X740613
- Howick, J., Ward, A., and Papanikitas, A. (2024). Just do it! Ten easy ways to enhance empathy in the consultation. British Journal of General Practice, 74(740), 124–125. doi:10.3399/bjgp24X736593
- Keshtkar, L., Madigan, C. D., Ward, A., Ahmed, S., Tanna, V., Rahman, I., Bostock, J., Nockels, K., Wang, W., Gillies, C. L., and Howick, J. (2024). The effect of practitioner empathy on patient satisfaction: A systematic review of randomized trials. Annals of Internal Medicine, 177(2), 196–209. doi:10.7326/M23-2168
- Ward, A., and Howick, J. (2023). Teaching an empathy-focused approach to difficult consultations: A pilot session and co-production evaluation workshop. Education for Primary Care, 34(4), 228–232. doi:10.1080/14739879.2023.2241037
- Howick, J., Palipana, D., Dambha-Miller, H., and Khunti, K. (2022). Turning diversity from a barrier to a facilitator of empathy in healthcare. British Journal of General Practice, 73(726), 24–25. doi:10.3399/bjgp23X731613
- Lyness, E., Vennik, J. L., Bishop, F. L., Misurya, P., Howick, J., Smith, K. A., Ratnapalan, M., Hughes, S., Dambha-Miller, H., Bostock, J., Morrison, L., Mallen, C. D., Yardley, L., Leydon, G., Little, P., and Everitt, H. (2021). Exploring patient views of empathic optimistic communication for osteoarthritis in primary care: A qualitative interview study using vignettes. BJGP Open, 5(3), BJGPO.2021.0014. doi:10.3399/BJGPO.2021.0014
- Howick, J., Mittoo, S., Abel, L., Halpern, J., and Mercer, S. W. (2020). A price tag on clinical empathy? Factors influencing its cost-effectiveness. Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, 113(10), 389–393. doi:10.1177/0141076820945272
- Howick, J., Steinkopf, L., Ulyte, A., Roberts, N., and Meissner, K. (2017). How empathic is your healthcare practitioner? A systematic review and meta-analysis of patient surveys. BMC Medical Education, 17(1), 136. doi:10.1186/s12909-017-0967-3
Empathic leadership
- Brower, T. (2021, September 19). Empathy is the most important leadership skill, according to research. Forbes (accessed 11 April 2024).
- Valadon, O. (2023, October). What we get wrong about empathic leadership. Harvard Business Review (accessed 11 April 2024).
- McGowan, H., and Shipley, C. (2023). The empathy advantage: Leading the empowered workforce. Wiley.
- Sear, P. (2023). Empathic leadership: Lessons from elite sport. Routledge.
- Howick, J., Moscrop, A., Mebius, A., Fanshawe, T. R., Lewith, G., Bishop, F. L., Mistiaen, P., Roberts, N. W., Dieninytė, E., Hu, X. Y., Aveyard, P., and Onakpoya, I. J. (2018). Effects of empathic and positive communication in healthcare consultations: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, 111(7), 240–252. doi:10.1177/0141076818769477
- Wilkinson, H., Whittington, R., Perry, L., and Eames, C. (2017). Examining the relationship between burnout and empathy in healthcare professionals: A systematic review. Burnout Research, 6, 18–29. doi:10.1016/j.burn.2017.06.003
Building empathy through creative writing
- Jack, K., and Illingworth, S. (2019). Developing reflective thinking through poetry writing: Views from students and educators. International Journal of Nursing Education Scholarship, 16(1), Article 0064. doi:10.1515/ijnes-2018-0064
- McBain, L., Donnelly, S., Hilder, J., and McDonald, P. (2015). "I wanted to communicate my feelings freely": A descriptive study of creative responses to enhance reflection in palliative medicine education. BMC Medical Education, 15, 180. doi:10.1186/s12909-015-0465-4
- McDonald, P., Ashton, K., Barratt, R., and McBain, L. (2015). Clinical realism: A new literary genre and a potential tool for encouraging empathy in medical students. BMC Medical Education, 15, 112. doi:10.1186/s12909-015-0372-8
- Rowe, D. B. (2018). The "novel" approach: Using fiction to increase empathy. Virginia Libraries, 63(1). doi:10.21061/valib.v63i1.1474