Abstract
Social media has become a powerful influence on student nurses in the United States, shaping both their personal values and professional behaviors. Its impact is multifaceted, with evidence pointing to both positive and negative effects, particularly in relationship to nursing student empathy (Nihayati et al., 2025; Tan, Ni, Liu, & Shorey, 2024). Empathy, which is to understand and value another person’s experiences, is the cornerstone of nursing practice and remains central to ethical patient care, particularly in relation to the principles of beneficence, nonmaleficence, autonomy, justice, fidelity, and dignity. In 2024, a new ideology emerged on social media platforms: “Toxic Empathy.” Unlike the traditional understanding of “toxic” empathy in nursing, which refers to emotional exhaustion from sustained empathic engagement, this newer framing politicizes empathy, casting it as a societal tool manipulated through ideological narratives (Isobel & Thomas, 2021; Stuckey, 2024). Given the current social media discourse and importance of empathy to the profession, as well as the infusion of the concept of compassionate care in the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (2021) Essentials domains, evidence-based educational strategies are essential to prepare nurses for the complexities of modern practice. This presentation will review current trends in social media and the concept of empathy and will present evidence-based methods for educating nurses globally. Impactful teaching practices include high-fidelity simulation with standardized patients, role play and empathy mapping, mindfulness-based empathy training, structured reflective practice, communication workshops with video review, and longitudinal integration of empathy education throughout the nursing curriculum.
Notes
Reference list included in attached slide deck.
Sigma Membership
Lambda Rho at-Large
Type
Presentation
Format Type
Text-based Document
Study Design/Type
Other
Research Approach
Other
Keywords:
Ethics, Curriculum Development, Competence, Cognitive Bias, Social Media, Empathy
Recommended Citation
Nettles, Brittany and Baker-Townsend, Julie, "Debunking Toxic Social Media Bias with the Implementation of Evidence-Based Nursing Education" (2026). International Nursing Research Congress (INRC). 16.
https://www.sigmarepository.org/inrc/2026/presentations_2026/16
Conference Name
37th International Nursing Research Congress
Conference Host
Sigma Theta Tau International
Conference Location
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Conference Year
2026
Rights Holder
All rights reserved by the author(s) and/or publisher(s) listed in this item record unless relinquished in whole or part by a rights notation or a Creative Commons License present in this item record. All permission requests should be directed accordingly and not to the Sigma Repository. All submitting authors or publishers have affirmed that when using material in their work where they do not own copyright, they have obtained permission of the copyright holder prior to submission and the rights holder has been acknowledged as necessary.
Review Type
Abstract Review Only: Reviewed by Event Host
Acquisition
Proxy-submission
Date of Issue
2026-07-22
Debunking Toxic Social Media Bias with the Implementation of Evidence-Based Nursing Education
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Social media has become a powerful influence on student nurses in the United States, shaping both their personal values and professional behaviors. Its impact is multifaceted, with evidence pointing to both positive and negative effects, particularly in relationship to nursing student empathy (Nihayati et al., 2025; Tan, Ni, Liu, & Shorey, 2024). Empathy, which is to understand and value another person’s experiences, is the cornerstone of nursing practice and remains central to ethical patient care, particularly in relation to the principles of beneficence, nonmaleficence, autonomy, justice, fidelity, and dignity. In 2024, a new ideology emerged on social media platforms: “Toxic Empathy.” Unlike the traditional understanding of “toxic” empathy in nursing, which refers to emotional exhaustion from sustained empathic engagement, this newer framing politicizes empathy, casting it as a societal tool manipulated through ideological narratives (Isobel & Thomas, 2021; Stuckey, 2024). Given the current social media discourse and importance of empathy to the profession, as well as the infusion of the concept of compassionate care in the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (2021) Essentials domains, evidence-based educational strategies are essential to prepare nurses for the complexities of modern practice. This presentation will review current trends in social media and the concept of empathy and will present evidence-based methods for educating nurses globally. Impactful teaching practices include high-fidelity simulation with standardized patients, role play and empathy mapping, mindfulness-based empathy training, structured reflective practice, communication workshops with video review, and longitudinal integration of empathy education throughout the nursing curriculum.
Description
Participants attending this session should expect an engaging and accessible dialogue about the impact of social media on the concept of empathy, contextualized through the lens of compassionate care and nursing practice. This conversation will focus on how educators can combat social media messaging through implementing evidence-based educational strategies to cultivate empathy and professional identity formation.