Changing characteristics of the empathic communication network after empathy-enhancement program for medical students

Abstract

The Empathy-Enhancement Program for Medical Students (EEPMS) comprises five consecutive weekly sessions and aims to improve medical students’ empathic ability, an essential component of humanistic medical professionalism. Using a graph theory approach for the Ising network (based on l1-regularized logistic regression) comprising emotional regulation, empathic understanding of others’ emotion, and emotional expressivity, this study aimed to identify the central components or hubs of empathic communication and the changed profile of integration among these hubs after the EEPMS. Forty medical students participated in the EEPMS and completed the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale-21, the Empathy Quotient-Short Form, the Jefferson Scale of Empathy, and the Emotional Expressiveness Scale at baseline and after the EEPMS. The Ising model-based network of empathic communication was retrieved separately at two time points. Agitation, self-efficacy for predicting others’ feelings, emotional concealment, active emotional expression, and emotional leakage ranked in the top 20% in terms of nodal strength and betweenness and closeness centralities, and they became hubs. After the EEPMS, the ‘intentional emotional expressivity’ component became less locally segregated (P = 0.014) and more directly integrated into those five hubs. This study shows how to quantitatively describe the qualitative item-level effects of the EEPMS. The key role of agitation in the network highlights the importance of stress management in preserving the capacity for empathic communication. The training effect of EEPMS, shown by the reduced local segregation and enhanced integration of ‘intentional emotional expressivity’ with hubs, suggests that the EEPMS could enable medical students to develop competency in emotional expression, which is an essential component of empathic communication.

Inter-cultural and cross-cultural communication through physicians’ lens: perceptions and experiences

“…Further, in multicultural contexts, providers with a wide range of capabilities, such as trust and a high degree of self-reflection, could be achieved through robust training. 27 - 29 Therefore, policymakers must be aware of the need for education in cultural competency, not the least for ensuring the safety of patients from other cultural backgrounds.…”

Prevalence and associated factors of depression among Korean adolescents

“…With regard to the treatment of depressive symptoms, sustained emotional warmth from both parents has been shown to reduce significantly the severity of depressive symptoms experienced by male and female children and adolescents [81]. School-based programs targeting parent–student dyads or triads that focus on parental stress management skills [82] and emotionally attuned communication based on cognitive empathy [83, 84], offered during school vacations or on weekends, may help promote meaningful adolescent–parent communication.…”

Rebuild doctor–patient trust in medical service delivery in China

“…The main method of doctor–patient communication in China is face-to-face communication, but the previous study reported similar for between screen-to-screen and face-to-face doctor–patient communication 60 ; additionally, researchers have documented that a “Photo Stories” presentation contributes to doctor–patient communication 61 , which all provide evidence of future communication methods in China. Importantly, Chinese medical staff must develop their communication skills, such as listening to patients, engaging them in shared decision making about health, and increasing awareness of performance-related feedback in medical practice 62 – 64 . Certainly, patients should also seriously adhere to individual literacy in health training, and with the participation of their families, they should alleviate their discomfort and vulnerability and feel open to express themselves 65 , 66 .…”