NCT01304030

Improving Empathy and Relational Skills

Improving Empathy and Relational Skills in Resident Physicians: A Randomized Controlled Trial

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 99 (actual)
• Sponsor: Massachusetts General Hospital · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 20 Years – 60 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Accepted

Summary

Our research hypothesis is that residents who participate in the empathy and relational skills training modules will significantly improve in these skills as compared to a control group of residents who receive residency training as usual that includes the current standard training in the doctor-patient relationship. To evaluate this hypothesis, we will use a two-pronged approach to assessment. The first prong is the residents' self assessment of empathy and the second is from the patients' perspective.

Detailed description

The study design is a randomized controlled trial assigning resident physicians (N=100) to either: (a) empathy and relational skills training; or (b) control group receiving standard residency training as usual. Over the course of six weeks, each resident physician in the experimental group will receive three 60-minute training sessions focused on empathy and relational skills (the residents assigned to the control condition will receive standard residency training as usual). The emerging neuroscience of emotions and empathy has provided the neurobiological and physiological bases for our Empathy Training Modules to enhance patient-doctor communication. These innovative modules provide the basic science and video modeling for empathy training. Based on cutting edge mirror neuron research, our training modules offer a novel approach to empathy and relational skills training that teaches physicians about the neurobiology and physiology of emotions in difficult or stressful patient interactions. We have developed professionally produced high definition training modules that portray difficult patient-physician interactions. Importantly, these videos also include physiological displays of emotion for both members of the dyad so that one can easily observe the degree to which patient and physician are physiologically concordant or discordant with one another. The empathy training is conducted at a deeper level of physiological awareness and regulation that promises to be more effective than traditional didactic teaching by integrating the technology of psychophysiology. The goal of raising awareness of physiologic indices during a patient-doctor interaction is to present an objective measure of emotional response to both explicit and implicit stimuli, which promises to be a powerful teaching tool to enhance empathic physician behaviors.

Conditions

• Empathy

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	Empathy Training Modules	The Empathy Training Modules utilize translational research in emotion expression basic science, physiology of emotions, decoding facial expressions and self-regulation skills as pertaining to management of medical and surgical patients.
BEHAVIORAL	Residency Training as usual	Residents will receive their typical didactic and clinical education

Timeline

• Start date: 2010-02-01
• Primary completion: 2010-12-01
• Completion: 2010-12-01
• First posted: 2011-02-25
• Last updated: 2011-02-25

Locations

1 site across 1 country: United States