Background

SingHealth Nursing and the Singapore University of Social Sciences launched a research initiative to strengthen empathy in nursing. The project focuses on defining empathy in Singapore’s cultural context, identifying empathetic behaviours, and creating tools to measure empathy. These efforts aim to guide future workplace strategies that foster and maintain empathetic nursing practices.

The project was launched with two primary objectives:

1. Contextual Exploration of Empathy
   To define empathy within Singapore’s cultural healthcare context by identifying behaviours that reflect empathetic care.
2. Development of Measurement Tool
   To create validated indicators and instruments that support empathy-focused interventions like workshops and training for nurses.
   

Key Milestones and Findings

SUSS and SingHealth Nursing held a collaborative workshop with Principal Investigators (PIs) to define empathy within Singapore’s healthcare context. This led to the co-creation of a culturally grounded and comprehensive empathy framework which was validated through focus group discussions with nurses from diverse backgrounds.

The Co-Created Empathy Construct 

Empathy, as defined through this research collaboration, is:

“A dynamic, multi-faceted process of emotionally resonating, cognitively understanding and compassionately responding to another person’s experiences, shaped by one’s own self-awareness, cultural background, and past experiences.”

The co-developed empathy framework helps nurses connect better with patients through active listening, emotional regulation, and perspective-taking. Validated by nurse focus groups, it's designed to meet real clinical needs.

Conclusion

The empathy assessment tool was officially launched at the SingHealth Nursing Conference on 4 July 2025, generating strong sector-wide interest and setting the stage for future developments.

This applied research project marks a significant step forward in embedding empathy into nursing practice. By co-developing a culturally grounded empathy framework and validated tool with SUSS, SingHealth Nursing is leading the way in shaping a more compassionate, patient-centred healthcare system, where empathy is not only encouraged but deeply integrated into everyday care.

Members Involved from SingHealth-SUSS