en Psychiatry Psychiatry Original Research Original Research <p> <strong> Background </strong>: Studies have shown a gradual decline in empathy of medical trainees with increasing years of education. Methods to augment empathy show some promise, but the most effective methods are both expensive and time consuming.To assess effectiveness of communication skills training program as a distant learning method in improving empathy. </p><p> <strong> Method </strong>s: Fourteen first year residents of psychiatry were randomly allocated to either participate in a two day workshop on communications skills (attending group) or to watch the videotape of the first day and participate in the second day (distance learning group). Assessments included Jefferson Scale of Empathy (JSE) and objective assessment of empathy (OAE) during a simulated interview, before and 3 months after the training. </p><p> <strong> Results </strong>: The empathy was significantly increased in the attending group as measured by OAE. The score of JSE also increased in the attending group but did not reach a significance level. No increase in empathy was seen in the distance learning group. </p><p> <strong> Conclusion </strong>: Watching the videotape of the workshop is not effective in improving empathy of residents. More interactive methods should be sought if we plan to use distance learning methods in enhancement of empathy. </p> empathy, medical education, medical student. 399 404 http://mjiri.iums.ac.ir/browse.php?a_code=A-10-1-696&slc_lang=en&sid=1 Mehdi Nasr Esfahani mehdinassr@yahoo.com 200319475328460012733 200319475328460012733 Yes Mental Health Research Center, Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Iran University of Medical Mojgan Behzadipour Mojgan_beh@yahoo.com 200319475328460012734 200319475328460012734 No Mental Health Research Center, School of Medicine, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. Amirhossein Jalali Nadoushan drjalali57@gmail.com 200319475328460012735 200319475328460012735 No Mental Health Research Center, Tehran Institute of Psychiatry-School of Behavioral Sciences and Mental Health, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. Seyed Vahid Shariat Shariat.v@iums.ac.ir 200319475328460012736 200319475328460012736 No Mental Health Research Center, Tehran Institute of Psychiatry-School of Behavioral Sciences and Mental Health, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.