ReviewHealthcare (Basel, Switzerland)2026
The Transformation of Empathic Care in the Digital Age: A Scoping Review on Digital Empathy from a Nursing Perspective.
Review in Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland), 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
BACKGROUND/
objectivesThe digitalization of healthcare has transformed nursing care and stimulated growing interest in digital empathy. However, the literature remains conceptually diverse and fragmented. This scoping review aimed to map the nursing literature on digital empathy, examining its definitions, its role in nurse-individual interactions, the factors that support or hinder it, and the research gaps in this field.
methodsA scoping review was conducted in accordance with the Joanna Briggs Institute methodology and reported following the PRISMA-ScR guideline. Electronic searches were performed in PubMed, CINAHL, Scopus, and Web of Science for studies published between 2000 and 2026. Eligible studies addressed digital empathy in nursing. Data were extracted and synthesized using descriptive and thematic analysis.
resultsThirty-three studies published between 2009 and 2026 met the inclusion criteria. Thematic synthesis identified four overarching themes: (1) definition and conceptualization of digital empathy, (2) its role in nurse-individual interaction and nursing care experience, (3) factors supporting and hindering digital empathy in technology-mediated nursing care, and (4) research gaps and future needs. The findings indicate that digital empathy is increasingly recognized as an important component of technology-mediated nursing care, although conceptual definitions remain heterogeneous and theoretical development limited.
conclusionsDigital empathy is an emerging and evolving concept that may enhance compassionate, person-centred, and relational nursing care in digital healthcare environments. These findings may inform future conceptual, educational, clinical, and research developments related to digital empathy in nursing. REGISTRATION: This scoping review was prospectively registered with the Open Science Framework on 9 April 2026 (Registration DOI: 10.17605/OSF.IO/B2JN8).
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.