Storytelling and creative writing for enhancement of empathy and well-being in health professionals: the “Verba Curant” study, a randomized trial.

Abstract

Storytelling and creative writing can improve empathy and well-being. Few randomized controlled trials have been carried out so far in health care settings, generally with small sample sizes. In this study 175 health professionals working in a large general Hospital were randomized into two groups: group 1 received theoretical narrative medicine education with 4 hours of distance education, while Group 2 received the same theoretical narrative medicine education and a practice course of storytelling and creative writing with 8 hours of distance education in small groups. The empathic ability and psychological well-being were measured immediately before the start and at the end of the education program with the Jefferson scale and Psychological General Well-being-short form test (PGWB-S). Participants in Group 2 showed a significant improvement of the mean PGWB-S index at variance with Group 1. Two-way ANOVA showed a between-groups time per treatment difference with P = 0.039. Empathy improved in both groups with a statistically significant change. No significant difference was found in between-groups comparison in the degree of improvement (P = 0.25). In conclusion Storytelling and creative writing education that combines theory with practice is an effective strategy for improving health professionals' psychological well-being and empathic ability.