Circling Science

Boosting Empathy and Compassion Through Mindfulness-Based and Socioemotional Dyadic Practice: Randomized Controlled Trial With App-Delivered Trainings

Sarita Silveira, Malvika Godara and Tania Singer · 2023

Evidence
Randomised trial
Kind
Journal article
peer-reviewed
Method
Ten-week trial comparing app-based dyadic practice, individual mindfulness and a waiting list
Sample
218 participants analysed; 285 registered
Published
Journal of Medical Internet Research, 25, e45027
Practices
Affect Dyads

Adjacent

Studies a related practice or mechanism, without testing Circling.

An app-based trial found gains in reported compassion and task-based empathy after both Affect Dyads and mindfulness, without clear evidence that the dyads worked better.

What it doesn’t show

Task-based compassion changes were not statistically significant, and theory-of-mind scores did not improve. Some composite measures were exploratory. This is another report from CovSocial phase 2 (NCT04889508), also reported by Matthaeus and colleagues, not an independent replication. Singer developed the dyadic training and disclosed advisory work and shares in Humanize, a company developing commercial versions of dyadic training. Outcomes were measured before and after the ten weeks, with no later follow-up.

Summary based on the abstract and the full text’s methods, results, limitations and competing-interest declaration.

Links

Cite

Silveira, S., Godara, M., & Singer, T. (2023). Boosting Empathy and Compassion Through Mindfulness-Based and Socioemotional Dyadic Practice: Randomized Controlled Trial With App-Delivered Trainings. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 25, e45027. https://doi.org/10.2196/45027