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NCT Number: NCT07767292

Integrating AI-Assisted Design Thinking Into Nursing Education

The goal of this randomized controlled trial is to test whether an AI-assisted design thinking workshop can improve empathetic communication in undergraduate nursing students at The Chinese University of Hong Kong. The main questions it aims to answer are:

Does the workshop improve students' empathy, creativity, collaboration, problem-solving, and patient-centred care attitudes?

How do students experience the design thinking and AI-supported learning activities?

Researchers will compare the intervention group with a wait-list control group to see whether the workshop leads to better outcomes.

Participants will:

complete a baseline questionnaire before the workshop;

be randomly assigned to receive the workshop now or later;

attend two tutorials in the intervention group, including design thinking activities and AI-simulated clinical scenarios;

complete a follow-up questionnaire after the workshop;

and, for some participants, join a short interview about their learning experience.

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Key information

Conditions

Nurse Training

Sex eligibility

All sexes

Study type

Interventional

Phase

Not applicable

Primary location

The Nethersole School of Nursing, The Chinese University of Hong Kong

Hong Kong

About this study

The study uses a mixed-methods, wait-list randomized controlled trial to evaluate an AI-assisted design thinking workshop for undergraduate nursing students. First, an AI chatbot is co-designed in Phase 1 with 8 nursing faculty members and 8-10 students through a 3-hour workshop, followed by 4-6 weeks of chatbot development and validation. The workshop uses design thinking activities including empathy mapping, patient journey mapping, "How Might We" framing, prototyping, and feedback gathering to define learning needs and chatbot functions. The IT team then builds the chatbot using the workshop outputs, including scenario scripts, response frameworks, assessment criteria, and bilingual English/Cantonese requirements. In Phase 2, 80 eligible Year 2 nursing students are randomly assigned to an intervention group or a wait-list control group. All participants complete baseline and post-intervention questionnaires measuring empathy, creativity, collaboration, problem-solving, and patient-centred care attitudes. The intervention group receives two 90-minute tutorials: one on design thinking fundamentals and one on AI-simulated clinical scenarios. During the second tutorial, students rotate through different scenarios while tutors provide small-group guidance. Participants in the intervention group may also take part in semi-structured interviews to describe their experiences. Quantitative data will be summarized descriptively, and qualitative data from interviews, open-ended responses, and workshop observations will be analyzed using content analysis.

Who can participate

Healthy volunteers accepted: Yes

Only the study team can determine whether someone qualifies for participation.

Inclusion criteria

  • Undergraduate nursing students enrolled in the Bachelor of Nursing programme at CUHK Nethersole School of Nursing.
  • Enrolled in the NURS 3127 course during the 2026-27 academic year.
  • Willing and able to provide verbal informed consent and participate voluntarily in the study.

Exclusion criteria

  • Students with prior participation in design-thinking workshops.

Treatment and study plan

AI-assisted design thinking workshop

Other

This intervention is distinct because it combines design thinking with a conversational AI chatbot to teach empathy in undergraduate nursing education. Rather than using lectures or standard simulation alone, it places students in an active, human-centred learning process that begins with empathy mapping and patient journey mapping, then moves to ideation, prototyping, and reflection. The chatbot provides realistic, bilingual clinical communication scenarios and immediate tailored feedback, including difficult situations such as breaking bad news, managing non-compliance, and responding to emotional or culturally complex encounters. The workshop is also developed through co-design with faculty and students, making the intervention closely aligned with actual learning needs and course context. In addition, the study uses a wait-list randomized controlled design, allowing comparison with usual learning while ensuring all students can eventually receive the workshop.

Primary outcomes

  1. Empathy

    Time frame: The baseline assessment will be completed one week before the workshop. The post-intervention assessment will be completed within one week after the second tutorial at 12 weeks from enrollment.

    Empathy will be measured with the Jefferson Scale of Empathy-Health Professions Student Version (JSE-HPS) which yields total scores ranging from 20 to 140; higher scores indicate greater empathy.

Secondary outcomes

  1. Creativity, collaboration, problem-solving

    Time frame: The baseline assessment will be completed one week before the workshop. The post-intervention assessment will be completed within one week after the second tutorial at 12 weeks from enrollment.

    Creativity, collaboration, and problem-solving will be measured with the Student Engagement Questionnaire (SEQ). Each domain comprises two items rated on a 5-point Likert scale. The mean score for each domain will range from 1 to 5, with higher scores indicating greater perceived creativity, collaboration, and problem-solving ability.

  2. Patient-centred care attitudes

    Time frame: The baseline assessment will be completed one week before the workshop. The post-intervention assessment will be completed within one week after the second tutorial at 12 weeks from enrollment. .

    Patient-centred care attitudes will be measured using the Patient-Practitioner Orientation Scale (PPOS), an 18-item instrument comprising the sharing and caring subscales. Items are rated on a 6-point Likert scale, and the overall score will be calculated as the mean of all item scores, ranging from 1 to 6. Higher scores indicate more patient-centred care attitudes.

  3. Experiences and views on the workshop

    Time frame: After intervention, at 12 weeks from enrollment.

    Evaluate by semi-structured interviews on the Intervention group

Study contacts

Contact information is provided by the study sponsor or research team.

Carmen WH Chan, PhD

CONTACT

[email protected]

+852 39436218

Khanh Thi Nguyen, PhD

CONTACT

[email protected]

+852 39435120

Sponsors and collaborators

Lead sponsor

Chinese University of Hong Kong

Other

Registry information

Official study title

Integrating Design Thinking Into Undergraduate Nursing Education to Nurture Empathy and Enhance Empathetic Communication: a Wait List RCT

Important dates

Study start
2026
Primary completion
2027
Study completion
2027
First posted
Aug 17, 2026
Registry last updated
Aug 17, 2026

OpenTrials presents study information sourced from ClinicalTrials.gov. The official registry record should be consulted for the latest information.

View the official ClinicalTrials.gov record (opens in a new tab)

This listing is for discovery and informational purposes only. It is not medical advice, does not guarantee that a study is recruiting, and does not determine eligibility. Contact the study team and a qualified healthcare professional when considering participation.

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