Empathy, quality of life and occupational burnout among medical students

Bigdeli, Shoaleh; Arabshahi, Seyed Kamran Soltani; Zazoly, Atefeh Zabihi; Norouzi, Azam; Yazd, Nahid Ahmadian; Hosseini, Agha Fatemeh

doi:10.34172/rdme.2021.021

Cited by 3 publications

References 28 publications

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The association between empathy and burnout in medical students: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Cairns,

Isham,

Zachariae

2024

BMC Med Educ

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Background Burnout levels in medical students are higher than in other student groups. Empathy is an increasingly desired outcome of medical schools. Empathy is negatively associated with burnout in physicians. Our objective was to quantitatively review the available literature on associations between empathy and burnout in medical students, and to explore associations between specific empathy aspects (cognitive and affective) and burnout sub-dimensions (emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and personal accomplishment). Methods A comprehensive search of the literature published up until January 2024 was undertaken in the PubMed, EMBASE, CINAHL, The Cochrane Library, and PsycINFO databases. Two independent reviewers screened 498 records and quality-rated and extracted data from eligible studies. The effect size correlations (ESr) were pooled using a random-effects model and between-study variation explored with meta-regression. The review was preregistered with PROSPERO (#CRD42023467670) and reported following the PRISMA guidelines. Results Twenty-one studies including a total of 27,129 medical students published between 2010 and 2023 were included. Overall, empathy and burnout were negatively and statistically significantly associated (ESr: -0.15, 95%CI [-0.21; -0.10], p < .001). When analyzing sub-dimensions, cognitive empathy was negatively associated with emotional exhaustion (ESr: -0.10, 95%CI [-0.17; -0.03], p = .006) and depersonalization (ESr: -0.15, 95%CI [-0.24; 0.05], p = .003), and positively associated with personal accomplishment (ESr: 0.21, 95%CI [0.12; 0.30], p < .001). Affective empathy was not statistically significantly associated with emotional exhaustion, depersonalization or personal accomplishment. Supplementary Bayesian analysis indicated the strongest evidence for the positive association between cognitive empathy and personal accomplishment. Response rate and gender moderated the relationship so that higher response rates and more male respondents strengthen the negative association between empathy and burnout. Conclusion Greater empathy, in particular cognitive empathy, is associated with lower burnout levels in medical students. This appears to be primarily driven by cognitive empathy's positive association with personal accomplishment. Protocol registration #CRD42023467670

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The association between empathy and burnout in medical students: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Cairns,

Isham,

Zachariae

2024

BMC Med Educ

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Empathy and Burnout in Helping Professionals

Karyagina,

Roshchina

2023

Современная Зарубежная Психология

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<p style="text-align: justify;">The present study is aimed at reviewing current researches on the relationship between empathy and burnout in helping professions. Traditionally, empathy is recognized as a core competence in this field. Occupational burnout in helping professionals is notable for its high levels and prevalence, as well as a variety of factors causing it, including specialists' regular encounters with negative emotions, sufferings and death of the recipients of their help (patients, clients etc.). The studies of the relationship between empathy and burnout were analyzed under one of the existing hypotheses: empathy promotes burnout; burnout reduces empathy; empathy prevents from burnout. This study considers phenomena specific to helping professions, such as secondary traumatization, compassion fatigue, compassion satisfaction and emotional dissonance, as well as their association with burnout. The analysis suggests that all three hypotheses are relevant and that a more nuanced understanding of empathy is necessary to provide insight into its relationship to burnout. The problem of finding an association between empathy and burnout transforms into the one, concerning the quality (or level) of professional empathy, as well as the possibility and ability to regulate it.</p>

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The association between empathy and burnout in medical students: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Cairns,

Isham,

Zachariae

2024

Preprint

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Background Burnout levels in medical students are higher than in other student groups. Empathy is an increasingly desired outcome of medical school. Empathy is negatively associated with burnout in physicians. Our objective was to quantitatively review the available literature on associations between empathy and burnout in medical students, and to explore associations between specific empathy aspects (cognitive and affective) and burnout sub-dimensions (emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and personal accomplishment). Methods A comprehensive search of the literature published up until January 2024 was undertaken in the PubMed, EMBASE, CINAHL, The Cochrane Library, and PsycINFO databases. Two independent reviewers screened 498 records and quality-rated and extracted data from eligible studies. The effect size correlations (ESr) were pooled using a random-effects model and between-study variation explored with meta-regression. The review was preregistered with PROSPERO (#CRD42023467670) and reported following the PRISMA guidelines. Results Twenty-one studies including a total of 27,129 medical students published between 2010 and 2023 were included. Overall, empathy and burnout were negatively and statistically significantly associated (ESr: -0.15, 95%CI [-0.21; -0.10], p < .001). When analyzing sub-dimensions, cognitive empathy was negatively associated with emotional exhaustion (ESr: -0.10, 95%CI [-0.17; -0.03], p = .006) and depersonalization (ESr: -0.15, 95%CI [-0.24; 0.05], p = .003), and positively associated with personal accomplishment (ESr: 0.21, 95%CI [0.12; 0.30], p < .001). Affective empathy was not statistically significantly associated with emotional exhaustion, depersonalization or personal accomplishment. Supplementary Bayesian analysis indicated the strongest evidence for the positive association between cognitive empathy and personal accomplishment. Response rate and gender moderated the relationship so that higher response rates and more male respondents strengthen the negative association between empathy and burnout. Conclusion Greater empathy, in particular cognitive empathy, is associated with lower burnout levels in medical students. This appears to be primarily driven through cognitive empathy's positive association with personal accomplishment. Protocol Registration: #CRD42023467670

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Empathy, quality of life and occupational burnout among medical students

Cited by 3 publications

References 28 publications

The association between empathy and burnout in medical students: a systematic review and meta-analysis

The association between empathy and burnout in medical students: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Empathy and Burnout in Helping Professionals

The association between empathy and burnout in medical students: a systematic review and meta-analysis

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