The effect of emotion recognition and empathy training on children’s empathic tendencies and social acceptance of peers with special needs: a pretest–posttest controlled experimental study

Background: Children with special needs face various challenges in gaining social acceptance from their peers, and limited empathic understanding from classmates can hinder inclusive education. Empathy and emotion recognition, while critical to positive peer relationships, are complex and poorly understood. Aim: This study aims to identify the effect of emotion recognition and empathy training on normally developing children’s empathic tendencies and social acceptance of their peers with special needs. Methods: The experimental study has a pretest–posttest control group design. It was conducted with 70 children studying in two different primary schools (32 children in the experimental group and 38 children in the control group). The research data were collected via the Demographic Information Form, the Empathic Tendency Scale, and the Social Acceptance Scale. The training program focused on emotion recognition and empathy was applied as a nursing intervention to the experimental group once a week for 11 weeks, whereas no intervention was administered to the control group. Results: The difference between the mean post-test Empathic Tendency Scale scores of children in the experimental group and children in the control group was statistically significant. Also, there was a statistically significant difference between the mean post-test Social Acceptance Scale scores of children in the experimental group and children in the control group. Conclusions: In the study, it was concluded that the emotion recognition and empathy training program enhanced children’s empathic tendencies and social acceptance of their peers with special needs.