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Abstract
BackgroundGeneral practice is stressful and burnout is common among family physicians. A growing body of evidence suggests that the way physicians relate to their patients could be linked to burnout. The goal of this study was to examine how patterns of empathy explained physicians’ burnout.MethodsWe surveyed 294 French general practitioners (response rate 39%), measured burnout, empathic concern (EC) and perspective taking (PT) using self-reported questionnaires, and modeled burnout levels and frequencies with EC, PT and their interaction in linear and logistic regression analyses.ResultsMultivariate linear models for burnout prediction were associated with lower PT (β = −0.21, p < 0.001) and lower EC (β = −0.17, p < 0.05). Interestingly, the interaction (EC x PT) also predicted burnout levels (β = 0.11, p < 0.05). The investigation of interactions revealed that high scores on PT predicted lower levels of burnout independent from EC (odd ratios (OR) 0.37; 95% confidence interval (95% CI) 0.21–0.65 p < 0.001), and high scores on both EC and PT were protective against burnout: OR 0.31; 95% CI 0.15–0.63, p < 0.001).ConclusionsDeficits in PT alone might be a risk factor for burnout, whereas higher PT and EC might be protective. Educators should take into account how the various components of empathy are potentially associated with emotional outcomes in physicians.
Highlights
General practice is stressful and burnout is common among family physicians
Higher affective empathy did not appear as a risk factor for burnout in this study, we found associations with burnout contrasting with the other kind of empathy
Our results suggest that there is no particular benefit in developing independent competencies for empathic concern, since when perspective taking abilities are not present, their protective impact on burnout is probably very limited
Summary
General practice is stressful and burnout is common among family physicians. Physician burnout has serious repercussions, such as deterioration in patient care, medical errors, substance abuse, interpersonal difficulties, depression and suicide [3,5,6]. 18% of medical residents rated their mental health as either fair or poor, which is more than double that reported in the general population of the same age [7]. Physicians are often overloaded with the demands of caring for patients within constraints of diminished organizational resources. Physicians are confronted with various emotionally distressing situations associated with illness, dying, fear and suffering, which in turn could result in extremely challenging interactions with patients and other medical staff [5]
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