Reynolds, L.M., Powell, P. orcid.org/0000-0003-1169-3431, Lin, Y.S. et al. (3 more authors) (2019) Fighting the flinch : experimentally induced compassion makes a difference in healthcare providers. British Journal of Health Psychology, 24 (4). pp. 982-998. ISSN 1359-107X
Abstract
Objectives: Although healthcare providers are required to sustain care in difficult circumstances, some patients challenge this principle. Evoking compassion seems likely to be helpful in such situations. This research aimed to evaluate whether inducing compassion in healthcare providers might mitigate disengagement with patients who have challenging presenting features such as those with disgusting symptoms and/or are to blame for their own health problems.
Design: An online experimental study with clinical healthcare providers.
Methods: Medical students (n=219) and qualified healthcare professionals (n=108) took part in an online experiment. Participants were randomised to view a slideshow of either neutral images (control) or compassion-inducing images (compassion condition) and were then presented with a series of patient vignettes where presenting problems systematically varied on patient responsibility and disgusting symptoms. Engagement was assessed by asking participants how caring they felt, how much they would want to help, how challenging it would be, and whether they would wear a mask.
Results: Participants reported less engagement with patients who were responsible for their illness and who presented with disgusting symptoms. Induced compassion offset disengagement and qualified health professionals were more caring and willing to help patients than medical students. The compassion induction eliminated some differences between experienced and trainee clinicians.
Conclusions: This research demonstrates that disgust and patient responsibility impacts clinical engagement and that medical students are more impacted by such scenarios than qualified health providers. Inducing compassion may help to mitigate these differences and further investigation into strategies that foster engagement with difficult patients is warranted.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2019 British Psychological Society. This is an author-produced version of a paper subsequently published in British Journal of Health Psychology. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. |
Keywords: | Compassion; health; emotion; disgust; medicine; engagement; healthcare providers |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health (Sheffield) > School of Health and Related Research (Sheffield) > ScHARR - Sheffield Centre for Health and Related Research |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 17 Sep 2019 10:29 |
Last Modified: | 10 Dec 2021 14:16 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Wiley |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1111/bjhp.12390 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:150568 |