ArticlePloS one2022
Empathy as a silent art-A doctor´s daily balancing act: A qualitative study of senior doctors' experiences of empathy.
Article in PloS one, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
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Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed.
- Treatment Preferences of Neurologists in Generalized Myasthenia Gravis: A Conjoint Analysis Study.Neurology and therapy · 2025Article
- Coordinated empathy in attending general practitioners: an interpretive phenomenological approach to constructing a conceptual model of empathy.BMC primary care · 2025Article
- Health-related quality of life in hemato-oncology patients: role of informativeness and doctor-patient communication.Health psychology research · 2024Article
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
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Abstract
Empathy in the doctor-patient relationship is of great importance and has long been considered a true professional virtue for doctors. Despite the general agreement concerning the importance of empathy, there is no consensus regarding the definition of empathy in medical research. While several quantitative studies, measuring empathy as an individual trait, show a decline in empathy among medical students, other studies have shown that empathy is influenced by contextual factors as well as the availability of role models. Therefore, further studies about the transition from medical school to clinical work also including the perspective of senior doctors are needed. The study presented in this article aims to better understand the clinical conditions for empathy through interviews with senior doctors about their lived experience of empathy. Twelve senior doctors, from different specialities were interviewed using a semi-structured approach. The data was analysed using content analysis. The analysis resulted in the main theme: Empathy as a silent art-a doctor`s daily balancing act. This main theme comprised three categories: "A tacit, yet language-dependent process", "A daily balancing act" and "An unsupported path towards mastery". Doctors face many challenges in their daily balancing act between individual and structural conditions that may affect empathy. In order to maintain and further develop empathy, doctors need working conditions allowing for collegial reflection and conversations that promote empathy.
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