How to reduce empathic distress and increase emotional skills in medical training? Experience of a Mindfulness-Based stress reduction class vs. control group in France
Cloé Brami, Franck Zenasni, Liza Hettal, Florence Pasquier, Serge Sultan
Research Square September 19, 2022 preprint DOI: 10.21203/rs.3.rs-2040009/v1 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Controlled study (intervention group vs. wait-list control) |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 51 |
| Population | Medical students |
| Measures | empathy subscales (including Personal Distress), emotional skills (identification, understanding, acceptance), Self-Compassion Scale (SCS) |
| Topics | Meditation |
| Key points | Compared with a wait-list control group, MBSR significantly reduced Personal Distress on the empathy subscale (β=-3.55, 95% CI -5.09 to -1.40) and increased students' ability to identify (Cohen's d=0.52) and understand (Cohen's d=0.62) their own emotions, as well as total Self-Compassion scores. No other empathy subscales showed significant change. The authors suggest MBSR develops medical students' interpersonal resources and reduces empathy distress. |
Abstract
Background: Improving student wellness through curricular activities is a topic of interest in medical school. Both distress and well-being are related to medical student empathy. Numerous data suggest that learning mindfulness skills help to reduce anxiety, stress and overall psychological distress. Moreover, there are still poor data on the impact of MBSR on medical students' empathy and emotional skills.
Methods: We designed a controlled study including an intervention group (MBSR) and a wait-list control group. We aimed to explore the impact of an MBSR training in medical students on (1) empathy (2) emotional skills (identification, understanding, acceptance) and (3) self-care. Online assessments occurred at baseline and post intervention. We analyzed pre-post changes and explored intervention effects using a generalized mixed model.
Results: Fifty-one medical students were included. 80% of students attended all MBSR classes. When compared with the control group, Personal Distress (PD) of the empathy subscale decreased significantly in the MBSR group (β=-3.55 [95%CI -5.09, -1.40], p<0.005 ). No other significant change was observed as for the empathy subscales. Students in the MBSR group increased their emotional skills as the ability to identify ( p <.005, Cohen’s d=0,52) and understand ( p =.02, Cohen’s d=0.62) one’s own emotion. The total Self-Compassion score (SCS) increased significantly in the MBSR group (β=-25.5 [95%CI 18.16, 32.86], p<0.001 ) assesses the ability to self-care.
Conclusion: Results suggest that MBSR develops medical students' interpersonal resources and reduces empathy distress. Indeed, PD assesses the tendency to feel distress and discomfort in response to the distress of others and corresponds to a challenge in medical training. MBSR could be beneficially combined with other educational modalities to enhance each component of empathy.
Citations in the library
Cites 11
- The benefits of being present: Mindfulness and its role in psychological well-being. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 2003
- Association of an Educational Program in Mindful Communication With Burnout, Empathy, and Attitudes Among Primary Care Physicians JAMA September 22, 2009
- Exploring self‐compassion and empathy in the context of mindfulness‐based stress reduction (MBSR) Stress and Health March 15, 2010
- Mindfulness-based stress reduction for medical students: a narrative review Canadian Medical Education Journal March 31, 2021
- Developing professional caregivers’ empathy and emotional competencies through mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR): results of two proof-of-concept studies BMJ Open 2018
and 6 more in the library