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Understanding the Links between Inferring Mental States, Empathy, and Burnout in Medical Contexts

It is generally accepted that empathy should be the basis of patient care. However, this ideal may be unrealistic if healthcare professionals suffer adverse effects when engaging in empathy. The aim of this study is to explore the effect of inferring mental states and different components of empathy...

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Autores principales: Delgado, Naira, Bonache, Helena, Betancort, Moisés, Morera, Yurena, Harris, Lasana T.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7913277/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33546199
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/healthcare9020158
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author Delgado, Naira
Bonache, Helena
Betancort, Moisés
Morera, Yurena
Harris, Lasana T.
author_facet Delgado, Naira
Bonache, Helena
Betancort, Moisés
Morera, Yurena
Harris, Lasana T.
author_sort Delgado, Naira
collection PubMed
description It is generally accepted that empathy should be the basis of patient care. However, this ideal may be unrealistic if healthcare professionals suffer adverse effects when engaging in empathy. The aim of this study is to explore the effect of inferring mental states and different components of empathy (perspective-taking; empathic concern; personal distress) in burnout dimensions (emotional exhaustion; depersonalization; personal accomplishment). A total of 184 healthcare professionals participated in the study (23% male, Mage = 44.60; SD = 10.46). We measured participants’ empathy, the inference of mental states of patients, and burnout. Correlation analyses showed that inferring mental states was positively associated with perspective-taking and with empathic concern, but uncorrelated with personal distress. Furthermore, emotional exhaustion was related to greater levels of personal distress and greater levels of inferences of mental states. Depersonalization was associated with greater levels of personal distress and lower levels of empathic concern. Personal accomplishment was associated with the inference of mental states in patients, lower levels of personal distress, and perspective-taking. These results provide a better understanding of how different components of empathy and mental state inferences may preserve or promote healthcare professionals’ burnout.
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spelling pubmed-79132772021-02-28 Understanding the Links between Inferring Mental States, Empathy, and Burnout in Medical Contexts Delgado, Naira Bonache, Helena Betancort, Moisés Morera, Yurena Harris, Lasana T. Healthcare (Basel) Article It is generally accepted that empathy should be the basis of patient care. However, this ideal may be unrealistic if healthcare professionals suffer adverse effects when engaging in empathy. The aim of this study is to explore the effect of inferring mental states and different components of empathy (perspective-taking; empathic concern; personal distress) in burnout dimensions (emotional exhaustion; depersonalization; personal accomplishment). A total of 184 healthcare professionals participated in the study (23% male, Mage = 44.60; SD = 10.46). We measured participants’ empathy, the inference of mental states of patients, and burnout. Correlation analyses showed that inferring mental states was positively associated with perspective-taking and with empathic concern, but uncorrelated with personal distress. Furthermore, emotional exhaustion was related to greater levels of personal distress and greater levels of inferences of mental states. Depersonalization was associated with greater levels of personal distress and lower levels of empathic concern. Personal accomplishment was associated with the inference of mental states in patients, lower levels of personal distress, and perspective-taking. These results provide a better understanding of how different components of empathy and mental state inferences may preserve or promote healthcare professionals’ burnout. MDPI 2021-02-03 /pmc/articles/PMC7913277/ /pubmed/33546199 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/healthcare9020158 Text en © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Delgado, Naira
Bonache, Helena
Betancort, Moisés
Morera, Yurena
Harris, Lasana T.
Understanding the Links between Inferring Mental States, Empathy, and Burnout in Medical Contexts
title Understanding the Links between Inferring Mental States, Empathy, and Burnout in Medical Contexts
title_full Understanding the Links between Inferring Mental States, Empathy, and Burnout in Medical Contexts
title_fullStr Understanding the Links between Inferring Mental States, Empathy, and Burnout in Medical Contexts
title_full_unstemmed Understanding the Links between Inferring Mental States, Empathy, and Burnout in Medical Contexts
title_short Understanding the Links between Inferring Mental States, Empathy, and Burnout in Medical Contexts
title_sort understanding the links between inferring mental states, empathy, and burnout in medical contexts
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7913277/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33546199
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/healthcare9020158
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