Changes in Students’ Empathy During Their Training

Jeffrey, David

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-11211-0_8

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…Such adverse socialisation may not be inevitable, however. This study points to students taking positive messages from negative role-modelling-'I don't want that to be me', was the reaction from some, a reaction also reported in qualitative research with medical students [28]. Educators may be able to build on this instinct, for example by asking students to reflect on how they may have done things differently when they see examples of less than adequate empathy in practice.…”

Section: Context Within the Literature And Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 63%

‘I’m sorry to hear that’—Empathy and Empathic Dissonance: the Perspectives of PA Students

2020

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Context Our understanding of clinical empathy could be enhanced through qualitative research-research currently underrepresented in the field. Physician associates within the UK undergo an intensive 2-year postgraduate medical education. As a new group of health professionals, they represent a fresh pair of eyes through which to examine clinical empathy, its nature and teaching. Methods Working with a constructivist paradigm, utilising grounded theory methodology, researchers studied 19 purposively sampled physician associate students in two UK medical schools. One-to-one semi-structured interviews were transcribed verbatim. Data were analysed using a grounded theory approach. Results The global themes were the pathways to empathy, empathy modifiers and empathic dissonance a novel term to describe the discomfort students experience when pressurised into making empathic statements they don't sincerely feel. Students preferred using non-verbal over verbal expressions of empathy. A conceptual model is proposed. The more substantial empathic pathway, affective empathy, involves input from the heart. An alternative empathy, more constrained, comes from the head: cognitive empathy was considered a solution to time pressure and emotional burden. Formal teaching establishes empathic dissonance, a problem which stems from over-reliance on the empathic statement as the means to deliver clinical empathy. Conclusions This study furthers our understanding of the construct and teaching of empathy. It identifies empathic barriers, especially time pressure. It proposes a novel concept-empathic dissonance-a concept that challenges medical educationalists to reframe future empathy teaching.

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Section: Context Within the Literature And Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 63%

‘I’m sorry to hear that’—Empathy and Empathic Dissonance: the Perspectives of PA Students

2020

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Empathy in Medical Education: Its Nature and Nurture — a Qualitative Study of the Views of Students and Tutors

et al. 2021

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Context Medical education is committed to teaching patient centred communication and empathy. However, quantitative research suggests empathy scores tend to decline as students progress through medical school. In qualitative terms, there is a need to better understand how students and tutors view the practice and teaching of clinical empathy and the phenomenon of empathic erosion. Methods Working within a constructivist paradigm, researchers thematically analysed the individual interview data from a purposive sample of 13 senior students and 9 tutors. Results The four major themes were as follows: (1) ‘the nature of empathy’, including the concept of the innate empathy that students already possess at the beginning of medical school; (2) ‘beyond the formal curriculum’ and the central importance of role modelling; (3) ‘the formal curriculum and the tick-box influence of assessments’; and (4) the ‘durability of empathy’, including ethical erosion and resilience. A garden model of empathy development is proposed — beginning with the innate seeds of empathy that students bring to medical school, the flowering of empathy is a fragile process, subject to both enablers and barriers in the formal, informal, and hidden curricula. Conclusion This study provides insights into empathic erosion in medical school, including the problems of negative role modelling and the limitations of an assessment system that rewards ‘tick-box’ representations of empathy, rather than true acts of compassion. It also identifies factors that should enable the flowering of empathy, such as new pedagogical approaches to resilience and a role for the arts and humanities.

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Changes in Students’ Empathy During Their Training

Cited by 2 publications

References 69 publications

‘I’m sorry to hear that’—Empathy and Empathic Dissonance: the Perspectives of PA Students

‘I’m sorry to hear that’—Empathy and Empathic Dissonance: the Perspectives of PA Students

Empathy in Medical Education: Its Nature and Nurture — a Qualitative Study of the Views of Students and Tutors

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