Empathy and attitude to uncertainty and risk-readiness in Russian doctors

Abstract

One important part of the problem of medical uncertainty is the psychological profiles of doctors of different specialties, as well as the role of empathy in their activities. This article tests hypotheses about the specificity of the relationship between empathy and attitudes to- wards uncertainty and risk in the personal profile of doctors of different specialties and, in particular, among psychiatrists. Testing the Jefferson Scale of Empathy (JSE), we used: Medical Risk Scale; Budner’s Scale of Tolerance-Intolerance of Ambiguity, Personal decision-making factors (LFR-21), and the Dirty Dozen (DD) to identify the properties of the Dark Triad. The study involved 265 people: 112 doctors (Mage=36.8; SD=8.6), as well as 153 students who were also included in the JSE approbation. Samples of doctors included: 1) 46 psychiatrists in Moscow (Mage=38.4, SD=8.4), of whom 39 are women; 2) 66 doctors of other special- ties (Mage=41.01, SD=12.8), of which 37 are women. Doctors with expressed personal risk- readiness rated average riskiness for transferring a decision to another one lower, but at the same time, the average risk level when postponing a decision was higher. The Jefferson Scale of Empathy in a Russian-speaking sample of doctors showed a similar three-factor structure to the English-speaking sample. Empathy scales are associated with a positive attitude of doctors to uncertainty and risk, also with their risk assessments in medical decisions, and are included in the differentiation of latent profiles (in a sample of psychiatrists).