The role of Empathy in the relationship between emotional support and caring behavior towards patients among intern nursing students

The empathic relationship between nursing students and patients allows them to understand and address caring behavior for patients. Appropriate emotional support equips them to overcome the complexities and difficulties inherent in patient care. This support cultivates resilience and self-awareness, enabling students to manage their emotions effectively and establish meaningful connections and caring with their patients. To investigate the role of empathy in the association between emotional support and caring behavior toward patients among intern nursing students at Alexandria and Damanhur University. The study subjects were 200 intern nursing students in their internship years of 2022-2023, randomly selected from an equal sample size from Alexandria and Damanhur University, Egypt. A questionnaire of social information& academics from students, the Toronto Empathy Questionnaire, the Caring Dimension Inventory, and the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support are used to collect participants' data. Empathy was associated with caring behavior and emotional support among nursing students (P