Evidence map›Paper›PMID 34551753›Full record

ArticleBMC medical education2021

Self-compassion in medical students: a pilot study of its association with professionalism pressure.

Miroslav Světlák, Šárka Daňhelová, Barbora Kóša, Alena Slezáčková, Rastislav Šumec

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Article in BMC medical education, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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4 · The record

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors.

Miroslav SvětlákDepartment of Psychology and Psychosomatics, Faculty of Medicine, Masaryk University, Brno, Czechia. msvetlak@med.muni.cz.
Šárka DaňhelováDepartment of Psychology and Psychosomatics, Faculty of Medicine, Masaryk University, Brno, Czechia.
Barbora KóšaDepartment of Psychology and Psychosomatics, Faculty of Medicine, Masaryk University, Brno, Czechia.
Alena SlezáčkováDepartment of Psychology and Psychosomatics, Faculty of Medicine, Masaryk University, Brno, Czechia.
Rastislav ŠumecDepartment of Psychology and Psychosomatics, Faculty of Medicine, Masaryk University, Brno, Czechia.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundTo be a "good doctor" and have "good medical practices" are apparent goals for both medical students and medical faculties. However, the associated implicit and explicit standards could be a source of distress in the form of pressure to achieve professionalism. Self-compassion has been identified as a transtherapeutic factor that plays a crucial role in developing and maintaining mental health. It seems to be an essential meta-skill to learn, especially for medical students who often perceive imperfection as failure. In this pilot study, we investigated the qualities that medical students attribute to the "good doctor" concept, how they perceive themselves compared to this concept, and whether any possible discrepancy between these two perspectives could be associated with self-compassion.

methodsAltogether, 301 medical students participated in the study (mean age 22.3 ± 2.1; 71.8 % female). The discrepancy between concepts was measured by a semantic differential consisting of a list of 36 adjectives and antonyms that students repeatedly mentioned in courses in their responses to the question "What should a doctor be like?" Self-compassion was measured by the Self-Compassion Scale.

resultsThe obtained results offer an insight into students' conceptualization of a "good doctor" and the hierarchy of given characteristics. Statistical analysis revealed significant associations between the discrepancy between the "ideal" doctor concept vs. actual self-perception and Self-Compassion Scale scores. The more students are compassionate to themselves, the lower the discrepancy.

conclusionsThe current pilot study supports the hypothesis that student self-compassion could play some role in the degree of discrepancy between the ideal "good doctor" image and student self-concept. This result could support the importance of educational interventions developing self-compassion for medical students. The proposed discrepancy measurement could also be a tool for measuring the effect of well-being programs aimed at self-compassion in medical students.

Indexed as

Students, MedicalAdultEmpathyFemaleHumansLearningMalePilot ProjectsProfessionalismYoung AdultGood medical practiceMedical studentsProfessionalismSelf-compassion

Identifiers

PMID34551753
PMCPMC8455803

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.