The direct and indirect effects of clinical empathy on well-being among pre-medical students: a structural equation model approach
Autor: | Clare L. Stacey, Sarah Harvey, Kelly Rhea MacArthur, Jonathan Markle |
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Jazyk: | angličtina |
Rok vydání: | 2021 |
Předmět: |
Students
Medical 020205 medical informatics media_common.quotation_subject education Empathy 02 engineering and technology Burnout Affect (psychology) Structural equation modeling Education Medical socialization 03 medical and health sciences 0302 clinical medicine Cynicism Surveys and Questionnaires 0202 electrical engineering electronic engineering information engineering Humans Pre-medical education 030212 general & internal medicine Emotional exhaustion Burnout Professional media_common Medical education LC8-6691 Depression Research Cognition General Medicine Models Theoretical Special aspects of education Well-being Medicine Psychology Clinical psychology |
Zdroj: | BMC Medical Education, Vol 21, Iss 1, Pp 1-11 (2021) BMC Medical Education |
ISSN: | 1472-6920 |
Popis: | Background Empathy is a well-established facet of clinical competency that research suggests is associated with enhanced medical student well-being. Since little is known about empathy and well-being before students enter medical school—during pre-medical education—the main goal of this study is to test a conceptual model of how clinical empathy is related to two indicators of well-being, depression, and burnout among pre-medical students. The theoretical model hypothesizes that three dimensions of clinical empathy—Perspective-Taking, Compassionate Care, and Standing in Patients’ Shoes— will be directly and negatively related to depression, as well as indirectly through its inverse relationship with three facets of burnout, Emotional Exhaustion, Poor Academic Efficacy, and Cynicism. Methods Using survey data from a sample of 132 pre-medical students at an American Midwestern university, this study employs structural equation modeling (SEM) to test the theoretical model of the relationships between empathy, burnout, and depression among pre-medical students. We identify the direct effects of the three dimensions of the Jefferson Scale of Physician Empathy (JSE-S) on depression (CES-D), as well as the indirect effects of clinical empathy on depression through the three dimensions of the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI-S). Results SEM analyses show that while none of the three dimensions of the JSE-S are directly related to depression, clinical empathy does significantly affect depression indirectly through burnout. Specifically, as predicted, we find that Perspective-Taking decreases Emotional Exhaustion, but, contrary to expectations, Compassionate Care increases it. And, the positive relationship between Compassionate Care and Emotional Exhaustion is particularly strong. In turn, Perspective-Taking and Compassionate Care are associated with depression in opposite directions and to different degrees. Conclusions Findings suggest that clinical empathy as measured by the JSE-S produces both positive and negative effects on personal well-being. We conclude that further conceptual clarity of clinical empathy is needed to better discern how the different dimensions impact different indicators of well-being. Given that pre-medical education is a crucial time for emotional socialization, the challenge for medical education will be fostering the positive, cognitive aspects of clinical empathy while simultaneously mitigating the adverse effects of affective empathy on medical student well-being. |
Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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