Aims and objectives.  To determine whether a specific training course will enhance empathic skills in student nurses during a 3‐year degree course. The study considers levels of empathy in student nurses and assesses whether these can be increased.Background.  Empathy is accepted as a critical component of supportive relationships. Many scholars have argued that empathy provides health professionals with the capacity to improve the health of patients, so it should ideally be taught to make health professionals more responsive to patient needs.Design.  Cohort longitudinal study.Methods.  Data were collected using the Italian version of the Balanced Emotional Empathy Scale (BEES). The study was designed to guarantee repeated measurements of levels of emotional empathy in the pre‐ and postintervention phases. This allowed us to evaluate the development and improvement of empathy and to measure the effects of extra training on the students’ empathy skills. Two groups took part in the study: the Intervention and the Control Groups. Students in the Intervention Group attended additional seminars and laboratories in small groups with tutors to learn and develop communicative and empathic abilities.Results.  One hundred and three participants (76% women) completed the study. Data showed that the training course was effective, especially for women: BEES scores 31·60 at pre‐intervention phase and 42·91 at the end of the academic course. Results regarding men were less clear, and the study discusses these unexpected, anomalous findings.Conclusion.  According to literature, men and women have different empathic traits, and we found that they show disparate empathic tendencies. More women than men took advantage of the training course. In any case, our data show that specific training courses are effective.Relevance to clinical practice.  As our study shows, empathy is a skill that may be taught. So it would be advisable to introduce these into the traditional nursing curriculum.

Purpose: In the current labour market, the competence to adapt is becoming significantly relevant for career development and career success. The construct of career adaptability, i.e. the capability to adapt to changing career-related circumstances and predict advancement in career development, seems to provide a fruitful scientific base for successful career intervention. The purpose of the study is exploratory, with the aim of providing new findings about the key predictors of this meta-competence that are relevant for career development. Design/methodology/approach: Through a web-based survey, a convenience sample of 230 working participants completed an online questionnaire, including socio-demographic characteristics (age, gender, education), professional status (role seniority, sector of employment, professional role), professional development-related features (training, new professional assignments, financial incentives) and psychological factors (work self-efficacy, search for work self-efficacy and job satisfaction). Four-step hierarchical multiple regression analyses were conducted to understand which of these factors account for the most career adaptability variance. Findings: Results highlight that work self-efficacy, search for work self-efficacy and education play a significant role in predicting career adaptability. Surprisingly, professional development-related features and professional status do not seem to have a relevant influence. Practical implications: Training and career-development professionals can improve their understanding of which career-related skills and attitudes can increase one’s capability to cope with sudden changes and instability of the current labour market. Originality/value: This study supports previous research, addressing the importance of career adaptability in times of dramatic change. It also provides some insight into the factors that could predict it.

The article aims to be a reflective paper on the interconnected concepts of training, development and innovation and the potential they have in dealing with change in organizations. We call change both the process through which something becomes different and the result of that process. Change management is the expression used to define the complex of activities, functions, and tools (such as training courses) through which an organization deals with the introduction of something new that is relevant for both its survival and growth. Training and development are labels used to define those educational activities implemented in organizations to empower the competences of workers, employees and managers in the lifelong learning perspective of improving their performance. Consequently, we define competences as those personal characteristics that allow people to be effective in the changing contexts of both workplace and everyday life. They are also necessary in organizational innovation, which is the process of transforming ideas or inventions into goods or services that generate value and for which customers will pay. Training, development, and innovation are three different but interconnected functions by which organizations manage change. What is the state of the art of the literature dealing with these topics? Here, is a critical review on the matter.