The effect of simulation on attitudes and empathy related to persons experiencing homelessness among nursing students

A lack of empathy can directly impact the quality of care provided to those who are unhoused. This quality improvement project aimed to increase the attitudes and empathy of nursing students toward people who are unhoused via a simulation experience, including the use of standardized patients and a computerized reality game. This quality improvement project was a quasi-experimental, one-group pretest-posttest-posttest design evaluating changes in results of the Healthcare Providers Attitudes Towards Homeless Inventory and the Comprehensive State Empathy Scale surveys. Descriptive statistics were evaluated at each survey interval for both survey tools. All mean scores increased after the intervention with the exception of empathic concern in the immediate postintervention survey. Clinical significance should be considered for this project. Simulation is a potentially effective way to improve nursing student attitudes and empathy toward the unhoused population. Due to project limitations, statistical significance cannot be evaluated. Future projects utilizing a larger sample size and refined simulation is recommended. Improving nursing students' attitudes and empathy can affect their ability to advocate for the unhoused population.