Abstract
The present study aims to analyze the relationships between burnout, empathy and the well-being of medical and psychology students, as well as the differences in these variables depending on their specialization. The study was attended by 270 students, 94 males (35%) and 176 females (65%), aged between 18 and 48 years, M = 20.84, SD =3.26. Regarding the specialization, 83 are enrolled at the Faculty of Dentistry Titu Maiorescu (31%), 73 are enrolled at the Faculty of General Medicine and Pharmacy Carol Davila (27%), and 114 are enrolled at the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, University of Bucharest (42%). Burnout was measured with the Academic Burnout Scale (Zhang, Shi, Yun, Li, Wang, He, & Miao, 2015), empathy was measured with the Jefferson Scale of Empathy, JSE (Hojat, Maxwell, Carroll, & Cass, 2016), and well-being was measured with The Satisfaction with Life Scale, SWLS (Diener, Emmons, Larsen, & Griffin, 1985). The results showed that medical students have higher levels of burnout than psychology students and lower levels of empathy and well-being. Empathy also moderates the relationship between burnout and well- being. These results can be used to develop intervention programs to reduce burnout and increase students' empathy in order to increase well-being.
References
- Ahola, K., Hakanen, J. (2007). Job strain,burnout,and depressive symptoms: A prospective study among dentists. Journal of affective disorders, 104(1), 103-110. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2007.03.004
- Asken, M. J., Raham, D. C. (1983) Resident performance and sleep deprivation: a review. J Med Educ, 58, 382-388. doi: 10.1097/00001888-198305000-00003.
- Baron-Cohen, S. (2001). Theory of mind in normal development and autism. Prisme, 34, 174–183.
- Baron-Cohen, S., & Wheelwright, S. (2004). The empathy quotient: An investigation of adults with Asperger syndrome or high functioning autism, and normal sex differences.,Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 34, 163– 175. doi:10.1023/B:JADD.0000022607.19833.00
- Batson, C. D. (1991). The altruism question: Toward a social psychological answer. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
- Brent, R. L, Brent, L. H. (1978) Medicine an excuse from living. Res Staff Physician, 24, 61-65.
- Byrne, B. M. (1994). Burnout: testing for the validity, replication, and invariance of causal structure across elementary, intermediate, and secondary teachers. American Educational Research Journal, 645–673. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.2307/1163231
- Cho, E., Jeon, S. (2019). The role of empathy and psychological need satisfaction in pharmacy students’ burnout and well-being. BMC Medical Education, 19:43–54. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-019-1477-2
- Davis, M. H. (1983). Measuring individual differences in empathy: evidence for a multidimensional approach. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 44(1), 113−126. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.44.1.113
- Del Canale, S., Louis, D. Z., Maio, V., Wang, X.,Rossi, G., Hojat, M., Gonnella, J. S. (2012). The relationship between physician empathy and disease complications: An empirical study of primary care physicians and their diabetic patients in Parma. Academic Medicine, 87, 1243–1249. doi: 10.1097/ACM.0b013e3182628fbf.
- Demerouti, E., Bakker, A. B., Nachreiner, F., Schaufeli, W. B. (2000). A model of burnout and life satisfaction amongst nurses. J Adv Nurs, 32(2), 454–64.http://dx.doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-2648.2000.01496.x
- Diener, E., Emmons, R. A, Larsen, R. J., Griffin, S. (1985). The satisfaction with life scale. J Pers Assess, 49, 71–5. doi: 10.1207/s15327752jpa4901_13
- Diener, E., Emmons, R. A., Larsen, R. J., & Griffin, S. (1985). The Satisfaction With Life Scale. Journal of Personality Assessment,49(1), 71–75. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327752jpa4901_13
- Duarte, J., Pinto-Gouveia, J. (2017). Empathy and feelings of guilt experienced by nurses: a cross-sectional study of their role in burnout and compassion fatigue symptoms. Appl Nurs Res., 35, 42–7. doi: 10.1016/j.apnr.2017.02.006
- Dyrbye, L., Shanafelt, T. D., Sinsky, C. A., Cipriano, P., Bhatt, J., Ommaya, A., . . . Meyers, D. (2017). Burnout Among Health Care Professionals: A Call to Explore and Address This Underrecognized Threat to Safe, High-Quality Care. NAM Perspectives. https://doi.org/10.31478/201707b.
- Ekman, P., Friesen, W. (2003). Unmasking the face. Cambridge, MA: Malor Books.
- Ford, M. E. (1982). Social cognition and social competence in adolescence. Developmental Psychology, 18, 323–340. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/0012-1649.18.3.323
- Hakanen, J. J., Schaufeli, W. B. (2012). Do burnout and work engagement predict depressive symptoms and life satisfaction? A three-wave seven-year prospective study. J Affect Disord., 141, 415–24. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2012.02.043
- Hayes, B., Prihodova, L., Walsh, G., & Frank Doyle, S. D. (2017). What’s up doc? A national cross-sectional study of psychological wellbeing of hospital doctors in Ireland. BMJ Open. http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2017-018023
- Hojat, M., Vergare, M., Isenberg, G, Cohen, M, Spandorfer,J. (2015). Underlying construct of empathy, optimism, and burnout in medical students. Int J Med Educ., 6, 12–6. doi: 10.5116/ijme.54c3.60cd.
- Hojat, M. (2016). The Jefferson Scale of Empathy. In M. Hojat, Empathy in Health Professions Education and Patient Care (pp. 83-128), New York: Springer International.
- Hojat, M., Maxwell, K., Carroll, S., Cass, J. (2016). Jefferson Scale of Empathy. User Guide. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA: Thomas Jefferson University.
- IBM Corp. Released 2016. IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 24.0. Armonk, NY: IBM Corp.
- Jolly, A. (1991). Conscious chimpanzees? A review of recent literature. In C. Ristau (Ed.), Cognitive ethology: The minds of other animals (pp. 231 -252). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
- Keyes, C. L., Shmotkin, D., & Ryff, C. D. (2002). Optimizing Well-Being: The Empirical Encounter of Two Traditions. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 82(6), 1007- 1022. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.82
- Kumar, S. (2016). Burnout and doctors: prevalence, prevention and intervention. Healthcare, 4(3), 37. https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare40
- Lee, Y. Y., Medford, A., & Halim, A. (2015). Burnout in physicians. J R Coll Physicians Edinb, 45(2), 104-107. doi: 10.4997/JRCPE.2015.203
- Lin, D. T., Liebert, C. A., Tran, J., Lau, J. N., Salles, A. (2016) Emotional Intelligence as a Predictor of Resident Well- Being. J Am Coll Surg, 223, 352-358. doi: 10.1016/j.jamcollsurg.2016.04.044
- Lucchetti, G., Damiano, R. F., DiLalla, L. F., Lucchetti, A. L. G., Moutinho, I. L. D., Ezequiel, O. D. S., et al. (2018). Cross- cultural differences in mental health, quality of life, empathy, and burnout between US and Brazilian medical students. Acad Psychiatry, 42, 62–7. doi: 10.1007/s40596-017-0777-2
- Maslach, C. (1982). Burnout: The cost of caring. New York: Prentice Hall.
- Maslach, C., & Jackson, S. (1986). Maslach burnout inventory. Palo Alto, CA, United States: Consulting Psychologists Press.
- Maslach, C., & Leiter, M. P. (2016). Understanding the burnout experience: recent research and its implications for psychiatry. World Psychiatry, 15, 103-111. doi: 10.1002/wps.20311
- Maslach, C., Schaufeli, W. B., & Leiter, M. (2001). Job Burnout. Annual Review of Psychology, 52(1), 397-422. doi: 10.1146/annurev.psych.52.1.397
- Melchers, M. C., Li, M., Haas, B. W., Reuter, M., Bischoff, L., Montag, C. (2016). Similar Personality Patterns Are Associated with Empathy in Four Different Countries. Frontiers in Psychology, 7, 290. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00290
- Michels, P., Probst, J., Godenick, M. T., & Palesch, Y. (2003). Anxiety and anger among family practice residents:a South Carolina family practice research consortium study. Academic Medicine, 78(1), 69–79. doi: 10.1097/00001888-
- -00013
- Mikulincer, M., Shaver, P. R., Gillath, O., & Nitzberg, R. A. (2005). Attachment, caregiving, and altruism: Boosting attachment security increases compassion and helping. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,89(5), 817- 839. DOI: 10.1037/0022-3514.89.5.817. 817
- Mitchell, R. E., Matthews, J. R., Grandy, T. G., Lupo, J. V. (1983) The question of stress among first-year medical students. J Med Educ, 58, 367-372. doi: 10.1097/00001888- 198305000-00001
- Mushin, I. C., Matteson, M. T., Lynch, E. C. (1993). Developing a resident assistance program. Beyond the support group model. Arch Intern Med, 153, 729-733. DOI: 10.1001/archinte.1993.00410060039007
- Paro, H. B. M. S., Silveira, P. S. P., Perotta, B., Gannam, S., Enns, S. C., Giaxa, R. R. B. (2017). Empathy among medical students: is there a relation with quality of life and burnout? PLoS One, 9(4), e94133.
- Pensec, L., Selic, P. (2018). Empathy and burnout in Slovenian family medicine doctors: the first presentation of Jefferson scale of empathy results. Zdr Varst., 57(3), 155– 65. doi: 10.2478/sjph-2018-0020.
- Ryan, R. M., Deci, E. L. (2001). On happiness and human potentials: A review of research on hedonic and eudaimonic well-being. Annual Review of Psychology , 141–166. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.psych.52.1.141
- Ryff, C. D., Singer, B. (1996). Psychological Well-Being: Meaning, Measurement, and Implications for Psychotherapy Research. Sychotherapy and Psychosomatics, 65, 14-23. doi: 10.1159/000289026
- Ryff, C. D., Singer, B. (1998). The contours of positive human health. Psychological Inquiry, 9, 1-28. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327965pli0901_1
- Schaufeli, W. B., Maslach, C. (1993). Historical and Conceptual Development of Burnout. Retreived at 12.01.2021, at
- https://www.wilmarschaufeli.nl/publications/Schaufeli/043.pdf
- Shapiro, J. (2008). Walking a mile in their patients’ shoes: empathy and othering in medical students’ education. Philos Ethics Humanit Med., 3, 10–20. doi: 10.1186/1747-5341-3- 10
- Shirom, A. (1989). Burnout in work organizations. International review of industrial and organizational psychology, 25-48.
- Siegel, D. J. (2012). The developing mind: How relationships and the brain interact to shape who we are. New York: Guilford Press.
- Silver, J., Caleshu, C., Casson-Parkin, S., Ormond, K. (2018). Mindfulness among genetic counselors is associated with increased empathy and work engagement and decreased burnout and compassion fatigue. J Genet Couns., 27, 1175–86. doi: 10.1007/s10897-018-0236-6
- Vine, I. (1992). Altruism and human nature: Resolving the evolutionary paradox. In P. M. Oliner, S. P. Oliner, L. Baron,
- L. A. Blum, D. L. Krebs, & M. Z. Smolenska (Eds.), Embracing the other: Philosophical, psychological, and historical perspectives on altruism (pp. 73-103). New York: New York University Press.
- Vlachou, E. M., Damigos, D., Lyrakos, G., Chanopoulos, K., Kosmidis, G., & Karavis, M. (2016). The Relationship between Burnout Syndrome and Emotional Intelligence in Healthcare Professionals. Health Science Journal, 1-9.
- Von Harscher, H., Desmarais, N., Dollinger, R., Grossman, S., & Aldana, S. (2017). The impact of empathy on burnout in medical students: new findings. Psychology, Health & Medicine, 23(3), 295–303. doi:10.1080/13548506.2017.1374545
- Wang, Q, Wang, L, Shi, M, Li X, Liu, R, Zhu, M, Wu, H. (2019). Empathy, burnout, life satisfaction, correlations and associated sociodemographic factors among Chinese undergraduate medical students: an exploratory cross- sectional study. BMC Medical Education, 19, 341.https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-019-1788-3
- Wheelwright, S., Baron-Cohen, S. (2011). Systemizing and Empathizing. In D. A. Fein (Ed.), The neuropsychology of autism (pp. 317-339). New York: Oxford University Press. Whiten, A. (Ed.). (1991). Natural theories of mind: Evolution, development and simulation of everyday mindreading. Oxford, England: Blackwell.
- Williams, C. A.(1989). Empathy and burnout in male and female helping professions. Research in Nursing and Health, 12, 169-178. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1002/nur.4770120307
- Yuguero, O., Melnick, E. R., Marsal, J. R., Esquerda, M., Soler-Gonzalez, J. (2018). Crosssectional study of the association between healthcare professionals’ empathy and burnout and the number of annual primary care visits per patient under their care in Spain. BMJ Open, 8, :e020949. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2017-020949
- Zaré, S., Galanko, J., Behrns, K. E., Koruda, M. J., Boyle, L. M., Farley, D., Farrell, T. M. (2004). Psychological Well-
- Being of Surgery Residents Before the 80-Hour Work Week: A Multiinstitutional Study. Journal of the American College of Surgeons, 198(4), 633-640.
- Zhang, S., Shi, R., Yun, L., Li, X., Wang, Y., He, H., & Miao, D. (2015). Self-regulation and study-related health outcomes: A structural equation model of regulatory mode orientations, academic burnout and engagement among university students. Social Indicators Research, 123(2), 585-599. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1007/s11205-014- 0742-3