Personality characteristics of empathy profiles – practical implications for education of medicine students
Abstract Background Empathy plays the key role in the doctor – patient relationship. The research of empathy determinants plays an important role in formulating practical guidelines for the education of medical students. The aim of this study was to analyse personality characteristics of empathy pro...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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BMC
2022-05-01
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| Series: | BMC Medical Education |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-022-03432-5 |
| _version_ | 1811248794276200448 |
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| author | Barbara Bętkowska-Korpała Anna Pastuszak-Draxler Katarzyna Olszewska-Turek Karolina Sikora-Zych Roksana Epa Anna Starowicz-Filip |
| author_facet | Barbara Bętkowska-Korpała Anna Pastuszak-Draxler Katarzyna Olszewska-Turek Karolina Sikora-Zych Roksana Epa Anna Starowicz-Filip |
| author_sort | Barbara Bętkowska-Korpała |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Background Empathy plays the key role in the doctor – patient relationship. The research of empathy determinants plays an important role in formulating practical guidelines for the education of medical students. The aim of this study was to analyse personality characteristics of empathy profiles among students of medicine, with consideration of chief personality factors and their subdimensions according to the FFM model. Methods During workshops in Clinical Psychological Skills, 153 students (M = 57, F = 96; mean age 23 years) analysed their psychological functioning styles by examining their personality profiles and empathy indicators. Empathic Sensitiveness Scale (ESS) and Personality Inventory (NEO-PI-R) were applied for this purpose. The analyses of empathy indicators were presented by means of cluster analysis. Variance analysis with post hoc Tukey-b test was performed for differences between clusters and to differentiate between personality factors and their components in empathy clusters. This study was approved by the Jagiellonian University Bioethics Committee (approval number: 1072.6120.175.2018 date: 28.06.2018). Results The first cluster included students who presented high empathetic concern for others, understood their perspective and needs characterised by medium level of Neuroticism, high levels of other dimensions The second group included students who could understand others very well, yet with lower tendency to react emotionally to suffering, characterised by medium level of Neuroticism, Extraversion, Openness, high Conscientiousness and low Agreeableness. The third cluster included students who react strongly to painful and unpleasant reactions of others, characterised by high Neuroticism and Agreeableness, low Extraversion. Conclusions Each empathy profile is manifested in relations with patients in a specific way. Medical education in empathy holds great potential to reduce anxiety, stress, and burnout associated with the medical profession. Discussion of individual results with students, gives an opportunity to talk about how their empathy and personality characteristics may influence their everyday medical practice. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-12T15:34:27Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-4d3c8fe8c2ec45d8b077ae1b60f5d4c8 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1472-6920 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-12T15:34:27Z |
| publishDate | 2022-05-01 |
| publisher | BMC |
| record_format | Article |
| series | BMC Medical Education |
| spelling | doaj.art-4d3c8fe8c2ec45d8b077ae1b60f5d4c82022-12-22T03:26:59ZengBMCBMC Medical Education1472-69202022-05-0122111110.1186/s12909-022-03432-5Personality characteristics of empathy profiles – practical implications for education of medicine studentsBarbara Bętkowska-Korpała0Anna Pastuszak-Draxler1Katarzyna Olszewska-Turek2Karolina Sikora-Zych3Roksana Epa4Anna Starowicz-Filip5Department of Medical Psychology, Jagiellonian University Medical CollegeDepartment of Medical Psychology, Jagiellonian University Medical CollegeDepartment of Medical Psychology, Jagiellonian University Medical CollegeDepartment of Medical Psychology, Jagiellonian University Medical CollegeDepartment of Medical Psychology, Jagiellonian University Medical CollegeDepartment of Medical Psychology, Jagiellonian University Medical CollegeAbstract Background Empathy plays the key role in the doctor – patient relationship. The research of empathy determinants plays an important role in formulating practical guidelines for the education of medical students. The aim of this study was to analyse personality characteristics of empathy profiles among students of medicine, with consideration of chief personality factors and their subdimensions according to the FFM model. Methods During workshops in Clinical Psychological Skills, 153 students (M = 57, F = 96; mean age 23 years) analysed their psychological functioning styles by examining their personality profiles and empathy indicators. Empathic Sensitiveness Scale (ESS) and Personality Inventory (NEO-PI-R) were applied for this purpose. The analyses of empathy indicators were presented by means of cluster analysis. Variance analysis with post hoc Tukey-b test was performed for differences between clusters and to differentiate between personality factors and their components in empathy clusters. This study was approved by the Jagiellonian University Bioethics Committee (approval number: 1072.6120.175.2018 date: 28.06.2018). Results The first cluster included students who presented high empathetic concern for others, understood their perspective and needs characterised by medium level of Neuroticism, high levels of other dimensions The second group included students who could understand others very well, yet with lower tendency to react emotionally to suffering, characterised by medium level of Neuroticism, Extraversion, Openness, high Conscientiousness and low Agreeableness. The third cluster included students who react strongly to painful and unpleasant reactions of others, characterised by high Neuroticism and Agreeableness, low Extraversion. Conclusions Each empathy profile is manifested in relations with patients in a specific way. Medical education in empathy holds great potential to reduce anxiety, stress, and burnout associated with the medical profession. Discussion of individual results with students, gives an opportunity to talk about how their empathy and personality characteristics may influence their everyday medical practice.https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-022-03432-5ProfilesEmpathyPersonalityBig fiveFFMNEO-PI-R |
| spellingShingle | Barbara Bętkowska-Korpała Anna Pastuszak-Draxler Katarzyna Olszewska-Turek Karolina Sikora-Zych Roksana Epa Anna Starowicz-Filip Personality characteristics of empathy profiles – practical implications for education of medicine students BMC Medical Education Profiles Empathy Personality Big five FFM NEO-PI-R |
| title | Personality characteristics of empathy profiles – practical implications for education of medicine students |
| title_full | Personality characteristics of empathy profiles – practical implications for education of medicine students |
| title_fullStr | Personality characteristics of empathy profiles – practical implications for education of medicine students |
| title_full_unstemmed | Personality characteristics of empathy profiles – practical implications for education of medicine students |
| title_short | Personality characteristics of empathy profiles – practical implications for education of medicine students |
| title_sort | personality characteristics of empathy profiles practical implications for education of medicine students |
| topic | Profiles Empathy Personality Big five FFM NEO-PI-R |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-022-03432-5 |
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